DEAD MAN WALKING 4
Dead Man Walking – Social Work perspective
Helen Prejean is the producer of the movie Dead Man Walking. Prejean is the nun who works in New Orleans in housing projects and also engages in mentoring the high school dropouts. She receives a friendship request from an inmate in Death Row who was charged for committing a terrible rape and a double a murder. The nun agrees about the request from Patrick Sonnier and discovers the details concerning his case. She initiates to meet the inmate’s brother and discovers he was majorly responsible for pulling the trigger during the killing of the two teens, David Leblanc, and Loretta Bourque. The movie is critical as it describes the aspects of capital punishment and brings the themes related to social work issues, spiritual values, and political concerns.
The emotional turmoil of the helping professional- self-care
The nun becomes interested in helping Patrick in his case. She gets involved in researching the details about the reason for his where she even chose to work closely with the Lawyer Millard Farmer. The goal was to stop Patrick’s death sentence and instead advocated for life in prison. In the movie, capital punishment is viewed as the act of taking away the life of the person who has done major wrong in society. Prejean thought her effort to save the life of Patrick as she even gave the inmate ultimate spiritual advices. Mainly, the nun used to support Patrick to reconcile himself to the capital punishment. She had the passion for delivering the inmate from the chains of the jail. Patrick was so much contented until he confessed how much he loved her spiritual advisor, Prejean. Unfortunately, her plans failed and instead she watched Patrick being put to death. The process is traumatizing and painful as the victim is set on a platform which is released and then he is left hanging on the rope which is tied on the neck. Sometimes a lethal injection is injected in the body of the victim which affects the blood stream and lead to a painful death. After the nun realized the capital punishment of Patrick, she is affected emotionally which affects her daily operations. She becomes upset to the extent she wishes to stop from being a spiritual advisor.
Use of spirituality as a self-care tool for social workers
The nun applies the spiritual concepts in social work. Firstly, she demonstrates the love of Jesus in her activities where she attends the inmates and attempts to help her during their jail life. She supports the inmate who was jailed for causing the brutal murder of the two teenage lovers. The inmate was bitter and at times full of racial hatred. Although the legal appeals failed, the nun dared to become the spiritual advisor of this man. There is a spiritual aspect of reconciliation in the movie. Reconciliation is among the seven sacraments in the Catholic Church. Before the inmate is executed, he confesses about killing the two teenagers to the nun. The aspect of confession is considered as the initial stage for reconciling with the affected people in the community. Therefore, the inmate confessed his sins to receive forgiveness from the family of the slated teenagers. About professional practice, spirituality brings the aspect of compassion in the work place.
Role of faith-based services in public institutions
Faith-based services support the introduction of the moral aspects of the institutions. The moral lessons allow the participants to understand good and wrongs. In addition, there is the development of positive characters that supports faithfulness during operations. For example, the inmate has been in the death row for almost six years and the time for execution was near. The families of the killed teenagers were supporting the death penalty. However, the nun was always against such act and supported a lesser evil action like life prison to the inmate. There is an episode the nun protests outside the prison and the camera captures the sign of the protestors which depicted that, “an eye for an eye” and a life for a life (Matthew 5:38-39). The demonstration was based on religious belief and faith. There should be values such as loyalty, and allegiance in the workplace. The issue is important in the workplace since it keeps the workers focused on achieving the goals while observing the moral principles.
In conclusion, the movie has raised issues concerning capital punishment. Also, there are many views about capital punishment to the wrongdoers. There is also the theme of reconciliation especially by other people in the society who have the spirituality aspect of self-care. The nun dares to support the inmates to overcome the anger in their life. She also acts as the spiritual advisor to the school dropout and other criminals.