Theme and message

The main theme explored in the article “My Sons on Death Row” by Kevin O’Sullivan is capital punishment. This theme is enhanced through motifs like violence and family. The intention of the sender is to make readers empathise with the families of those sentenced to the death penalty, and to subtly criticise the death penalty system in the US.

Capital punishment

The article takes a personal approach towards capital punishment in the US, by focusing on the case study of the mother of two men who are on Death Row for separate murders.

The article first raises issues about the potential pros and cons of televising an execution, to illustrate how heated the debate on the death penalty is in the US: “…believing the horrific spectacle will turn more people against the ultimate penalty. Others believe it will transform killers into ‘small screen superstars’ and viewers into twisted fans of gruesome scenes.” (p. 170, ll. 11-17)

Then the article draws attention to the huge number of people sentenced to death in the US, to make people consider whether the death penalty is an unnecessarily extreme and overused form of punishment.

To further illustrate these points, the article focuses on Jacqueline...