Ethical Issues In Dead Man Walking

Despite emanating over two thousand year ago, Aristotle’s teachings are still relevant and can be applied to situations in the modern day. Even today people debate whether or not one can know what is truly moral. Certainly, most legal systems are based upon trying to conclude whether people should be held accountable for various actions. Even so, being legally responsible for something does not necessarily imply that the person is, consequently, also morally responsible, or vice versa. According to most modern legal systems, if someone is legally responsible for an action, that person will face consequences under the legal system. A person who is morally responsible for an action may also be legally responsible for it as well, but not necessarily. While the two may coincide often, they are not the same thing and their correlation does not imply …show more content…
In this movie, Matthew Poncelet, an inmate convicted of double murder and rape, remains on death row in the county prison as he was sentenced to death for his actions. This movie’s plot takes off as Matthew befriends a local nun, Sister Helen Prejean, who works toward helping Matthew avoid his destined death. Sister Helen is unsuccessful, and as Matthew is moments away from death, he admits to Sister Helen that he raped and murdered the female victim and then murdered the male victim. The movie concludes when Matthew is lawfully put to death. While Matthew is undoubtfully legally responsible for his actions, the teachings of Aristotle must be applied to determine if Matthew is also morally responsible. As previously discussed, Aristotle states that in order for someone to be held morally responsible for an action, the action must be voluntary. For Matthew to not be morally responsible, his actions would have to be done due to compulsion or ignorance of a particular