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The death penalty is often touted as a punishment providing the only way to truly serve justice and offer closure for covictims (defined as family members or friends of murder victims'). These rationales are rarely structured around the actual words of these individuals, however. The findings in this study suggest that such rhetoric oversimplifies and often misrepresents the experiences and perspectives of covictims. Through their own words, we learn that the death penalty is not always the soothing salve for the pain and suffering of covictims we wish it to be. Rather, we find much more ambivalence and complexity in the statements of covictims. The impact of the death penalty and executions on covictims and their ability to attain healing and closure is not so clear cut. By presenting the actual words of capital murder covictims at the time of execution, this inductive, exploratory study provides a novel glimpse at the perspectives of these individuals and their perception of the death penalty process.
Keywords: death penalty; executions; murder covictims; transformation; healing; closure
The covictims' experience of the capital punishment process is a neglected aspect of death penalty research and discourse.1 For the covictims, this process follows the initial severe trauma of losing a loved one to murder. This trauma carries with it a heavy emotional and psychological burden that includes intense mourning and grieving, psychological deterioration, and the need for healing. The process that follows carries two possible ramifications: (1) an opportunity for covictims to obtain the healing they desire. This may be manifested in terms of justice, revenge, closure, or resolution, or offer an opportunity for covictims to be heard and have their feelings or perspectives validated, and (2) the death penalty process may exact a form of secondary victimization on covictims, only prolonging their period of grieving and interrupting their healing process (Death Penalty Information Center [DPIC], 2005; Dicks, 1991; King, 2003; Lifton & Mitchell, 2000; Murder Victims' Families for Reconciliation, 2005).
In line with the first possibility is the contention by many advocates of the death penalty that it provides covictims with justice, closure, and healing. In fact, those opposing the death penalty are often painted as "antivictim," "procriminal," or just plain insensitive to the suffering and needs of covictims (Lynch,...