Hannah Carr Carr1
Mrs. Robinson
AP English 3
31, July, 2007
Who really deserves the death penalty? Dick or Perry? If the death penalty only had
room for one of the killers, Dick in my opinion would be the one who would recieve it;
Although Perry did indeed kill the 4 Clutters, Dick was the mastermind behind it and
Perry just couldn’t say no. Perry came from a a very disfunctional family. Growing up
Perry was never taught right from wrong, as we all learn during our childhood. Perry just
simply did whatever he pleased. Perrys parents had split up while he was just a
young boy. After moving in with his alcoholic mother, he was sent to live in an
orphange for a few years. While residing there he was beaten and made fun of daily
for his bed wetting problem. After his two other siblings commited suicide, Perry only
had one other sibling who refused to interact with him. After all this had occured Perry
had a lot of anger and personal conflicts that he was dealing with. On the other hand Dick
grew up completly opposite. Dick had grown up in an excellent household but often
stuggled to make ends meet. Dick was “an outstanding athlete- always on the first team
at school. Basketball! Baseball! Football! Dick was always the star player. A pretty good
student, too, with A marks in several subjects…”(166) He was a strong athlete and very
smart, but had no money for college. Dick ahd gotten married at a ver young age. After
his first wife left, Dick got into more money trouble. That is when he decided to steal from
the Clutters only because he had grown to dislike and loathe people with money;
However, Dick did not kill the Clutter family simply because he did not want to hurt his
mother or his family. He just wanted to have a happy life afterwards. In my opinion I
feel that they both deserve the death penalty. Before I finished reading In Cold Blood I
had a set opinion, that Dick should be the one dead and Perry should just simply go to jail
for life. Either way you look at it they both die. But, after reading In Cold Blood I now
have a greater understanding of who was truly the killer and who just did it for financial
issues. Dick did it for money issues and Perry did it out of spite and in cold blood. Ironic?