comment: >
  
  Yes this is unpopular. Delacroix was intended to be a somewhat likeable character, by inmate standards at least. 
  Back then I wondered why Wild Bill (the one that actually committed the crime John was accused of) couldn’t be the one to get the botched execution, but thankfully I’m much more mature now. I’m not sure I would have been ok with that scenario either.
context: In this movie in particular I think it is less about feeling bad for the dude and more about hating Percy, the one not getting the sponge wet. >
  
  Yeah fuck percy. Little prick. You know how one character ruins an actor for you ? That's percy for me. >
  
  Tge dude says hes shocked marrying a 16 year old at 50 affected his career. He may actually be mentally handicapped >
  
  I think he had never been THAT much of a promising star. 
  I mean... He didn't have a great career. It was less than meh. >
  
  I do not disagree with your opinion on this, but I'd posit an idea to explain why others feel differently. 
  Part of the task of any story teller is to make sympathetic characters.  All the people on the Green Mile are criminals whom are slated for execution for their crimes. If they had all been snarling monsters, they would not have been sympathetic characters,  that is characters that you find some common humanity in, that you come to like and identify with and perhaps root for. Delacroix is a child rapist and multiple murderer, yes, and that serves as justification of his fate of execution,  but this isn't the part of his life that is portrayed in the film.  We see him as a kindly old convict with a pet mouse. This makes him sympathetic,  which makes his execution all the more tragic. And this makes Percy's act of deliberately bungling his execution a salient point on which to truly hate him as one of the villains in the narrative. 
  Contrast the humanizing of Delacoix with the demonizing of Wild Bill, for example. Wild Bill is also a rapist and murderer, but never displays any sympathetic characteristics.  He's still violent and unrepentant.  We don't care what happens to him and so he is a monster who's death we rightly consider just. As is the fate of Percy, the guard who, although not a convict, is nonetheless needlessly cruel and sadistic. 
  Obviously,  people in real life are mostly not fictional characters.  We have faults and flaws and are not so easily sorted into easy categories of hero and villain. But the craft of the movie is to make the execution of Delacoix sympathetic despite his crimes to emphasize the wicked cruelty of Percy. >
  
  I mean... from a legal standpoint it's a cruel and unusual punishment and was done purposefully. Morally it's not the greatest to not care but .. I mean, I am not crying either. >
  
  I think the reaction would’ve been different if they took the whole “I spit on your grave” approach. >
  
  I feel sympathy for him suffering like that, the whole point of the set up is to show that there's a difference between an ethical execution that serves justice and has to be carried out under the burden of duty and murder that satisfies a sadist's wish to see someone suffer. >
  
  The problem has nothing to do with the inmate but with the people watching. That’s not something you can unsee. It damages you. I don’t agree with Percy for having done that as far as the inmate goes but putting people in a position to watch something potentially traumatic does make him a bad guy. >
  
  Not just watch... smell! They probably got a snootful of crispy-fried cajun cooking that evening. >
  
  If someone deserves to die, they should die as swiftly as possible. There's no point to torturing them except to satisfy the torturer's desire to see someone suffer. >
  
  Dude raped 2 little girls. A slow painful death fits the crime. >
  
  I think that counts as 'satisfying a desire to see him suffer'. I agree that he deserves to die, but with the goal of removing someone too hostile and dangerous to be allowed to live. Not just for the sake of seeing him hurt. >
  
  I once heard a guy ask someone why they put "a burger" on his head in The Green Mile. >
  
  Generally that is something that sadists genuinely do; They look for a reason, Any reason, To justify their hatred enough to torment them. A satisfaction with seeing them suffer whilst also a reason not to hate themselves for loving it. >
  
  You hit the nail on the head; and it always hits me how people use motivational reasoning ("the person was bad") to excuse their own impulses / actions (sadism here)... >
  
  Honestly the sadists field day on terrible people isn't really a concern for me, The problem is the fact that people are genuinely going onto the internet and talking about how it was justified and all that fun crap. 
  Sadism happen? Cool, Stop making a scene at how deserved it is and move on with your day! But instead, there are people who just go onto U.O so they can get free internet points while doing exactly that. >
  
  Yep. AITA, UO, and /r/politics is pretty notorious for this >
  
  I feel like with Percy, anyone could have been sitting in that chair and he would have done the same thing. He just wanted to see what would happen if he didn't wet the sponge. It was a sick, sadistic experiment to him. He broke the code of justice through ethical execution. >
  
  Yeah, it wasn't for the sake of punishment, it could have been someone falsely convicted instead.
  Sadists don't really have a track record of only hurting people who have done something wrong, it's just easier for them to disproportionately harm those who have. >
  
  I think the point the film tries to make is that even the worst of people deserve basic human decency.
  You failed at getting that message. >
  
  No they don't. >
  
  We do it more for our sake than theirs. >
  
  For my sake I want them to suffer as much as possible >
  
  That's juvenile. We as a society mete out that kind of punishment for justice, not some self-righteous sadism. >
  
  But it's still sadistic. That monster is still human, and is still entitled to a trial and safety from cruel and unusual punishment under law. I'm sorry but the justice system can't cater to the anger of the bereaved, understandable though it may be >
  
  IMHO The Green Mile is one of the top 5 book adaptations Hollywood has ever created. Incredible book, incredible movie. >
  
  Percy was a vile character, and Hutchison, who played him, is a creepy-ass dude, marrying a 16 y/o when he was 51. >
  
  Bad joke >
  
  His sentence was to be killed, a burden no one wants to bear, when someone served their sentence they should have the option of serving it with dignity, Delacroix did reprehensible things and deserved death, but instilling pain and suffering for your own sadistic pleasure is wrong. Delacroix was simply serving his sentence and should have been given the opportunity to do it with dignity like everyone else >
  
  Did his victims get the opportunity to die with dignity and recieve mercy? >
  
  Your thinking with regard to this issue is quite juvenile and simplistic. If you’d humour me for a moment, I want to illustrate one of the fundamental reasons that “cruel and unusual punishments” are outlawed. Are we, as the audience, actually 100% certain that Delacroix was guilty. I’m not talking “he’s convicted, therefore he is guilty”, I mean are you 100%, without a single shadow of a possible doubt, certain that he was the one who actually committed those crimes? 
  I haven’t watched the film for a long time, and cannot remember if there is any moment where it’s made clear whether he was guilty or not. Irrespective, my underlying argument still stands.
  Cruel and unusual punishments are outlawed in no small part due to the fact that the justice system is imperfect by nature. It is exceedingly rare that we’re completely certain of a person’s crimes; usually only with camera footage or if there is a confession.
  The emotional harm and distress that could come to people if they later discovered that an ultimately innocent person was tortured to death is immeasurable. 
  Moreover, we have plenty of evidence which indicates that irrespective of how “righteous” you believe your case to be, dealing out violence and harm to others is likely to take an emotional toll on you. Just think of how many soldiers develop PTSD related to the things they’ve done or seen, even if they were fighting for a cause widely accepted as “just”. 
  The court and justice system is there to relieve wronged parties of the responsibility of having to take retributory action. Whether that’s because they wouldn’t have the means to do so, or to protect them from harming themselves or others, regardless of guilt or innocence. It is by no means perfect, but I can assure you that if you spent any time in a society with open vigilante justice, you would very rapidly realise the need for it to work as it does. Either that or you’d certainly realise it the moment just before the mob caves your skull in for a crime you didn’t commit.
  I understand it sucks, and we have to do everything we can to hold guilty people accountable with proportionate punishment, but torture, callousness and hatred are not the way to do this. I hope I’ve illustrated a little more of the nuance that isn’t necessarily driven solely by blind rage. >
  
  Exactly. Maybe he deserved it, but the whole point is, as a society, we are supposed to be better than that >
  
  He did ent deserve it because he was innocent >
  
  You’re confused. The character were talking about was not innocent >
  
  Zamn >
  
  I swear people who comment like this are actual NPC's/bots >
  
  There's certainly complexity in this topic.  But torture is never justified.
  You have my upvote. >
  
  “Torture is never justified” never? Not under any circumstances? >
  
  Do you have an example of a circumstance where torture is justified? >
  
  Say you're in a position where you're interrogating a terrorist who knows where a bomb is that is soon going to go off but you don't. He won't say anything when you question him. Do you start the torture to make him talk or do you let him keep ignoring your questions? >
  
  Any information you get by torturing him is mute as he will tell you anything you want to hear after a while to make you stop. There is no way to know if you got any truth out of it >
  
  That's true, good answer. >
  
  The green mile is the first experience I have ever had with empathy. It’s also the only time I’ve ever seen my stone cold dad cry. I don’t think I’ve met anyone who wasn’t heartbroken watching that movie so that may be a bit concerning that you don’t feel any empathy >
  
  I highly recommend the book. I'd seen the movie plenty of times before reading the book (the movie is an almost line-by-line perfect adaptation), but I still wept when I read it. >
  
  Nah, it's not okay. We need to be better as a society. Hell, the whole fucking thing follows around an innocent man put to death.
  Lotta y'all need to find some empathy. >
  
  Really is scary how many people are okay with vengeance.  Maybe just reddit hive mind, but that's kind of the scary part. >
  
  If society as a whole was introduced to the concept of retribution and vengeance again, it would be a whole lot more peaceful. 
  But instead we get a society where repeat offenders don't give a fuck because they know they'll just be back out on the street in a week anyways. 
  We need to make people who want to do bad things, scared to do them again. Public execution, removal of appendages, forced castration, all of it. Make criminals afraid. :) >
  
  Instilling fear will create peace, I doubt it lord palpatine. >
  
  Man there are a lot of people in this thread that should be id'd and put on a list as people who are never allowed to get any kind of position of power.
  Big dictator energy in this comment section >
  
  Well Percy is a piece of shit in real life.
  Regardless of the crime, there's protocol.  Percy was a sick mf who got a kick out of it. But kudos on making him so hated >
  
  What?! How did I not know this?! >
  
  Most country don't have death penalty , even Cuba. >
  
  Living in Cuba is a death sentence >
  
  Funny. You shoild come and visit sometimes. >
  
  I really want to. Any tips for an Australian? >
  
  Yes, bring euros or pounds. Otherwise it is the safest country on earth for tourists, Cuba wins this title every year. >
  
  Percy is the villain because he wanted to see the  torment. I believe there are crimes where only the removal of life is the only appropriate penalty but we have to respect life itself in not causing undue suffering. >
  
  I think this is one of the issues with movies and tv. While entertainment people generally separate them from real life. Like seeing that in a movie setting you can detach it from reality. But when you see something that’s real then it’s a different story
  I always compare this to subs like r/fighting or something. Where we’re conditioned in action movies that people can just get knocked out and hit the floor. But then go to subs like that where you see actual fights, actual people getting their head stomped or smashing it on the ground and realize a person could actually be a vegetable from the hit or even dead
  I’m not saying you’re wrong in the context of the movie, but I do wonder if this were real life would you have the same sensibilities if you actually saw something like this. Then again Reddit is kind of fucked where people are fine with someone getting punched in the face for calling someone a booger >
  
  this dudes so edgy >
  
  Wasn't the executed guy accused wrongly, though? >
  
  You might be thinking of Michael Clark Duncan’s character, who was.  The title can be a little confusing because MCD would naturally be “the dude” that comes to mind first, but “the dude” in question is another guy who is also a rapist that was executed.  
  If I’m mistaken, I apologize. >
  
  If we are to kill criminals, IMO, it should be humane.
  Death penalty shouldn’t be for vengeance, just should be like taking out the trash. >
  
  Watching both green mile and shaw shank made me question our prison/legal system. Yes Eduard committed crimes that led to him being put on the electric chair, but that's not the version of Eduard we are shown. Eduard has clearly undergone some sort of reform - he trains and befriends mr jingles and is close enough to the guards that they feel comfortable speaking to him by sitting next to him in his cell with the door open. One of the goals of our prison system is to help people reform - with the electric chair being used when the crimes are so serious that there is no hope of the criminal reforming enough to return to society. (think of the aggressive tatooed prisoner who is eventually shot by Percy). I think Eduard has reformed and he even tells the prison guards something along the lines of 'I wish I had met you guys earlier'. The Eduard we are shown has reformed and feels sorry for the mistakes he has made and that makes his execution even sadder when it is botched. I don't think this Eduard is capable of the crimes he previously committed and that is what makes me feel sorry for him during the execution. 
  It's made even sadder by the realisation that Percy probably deserves to be on the chair more than Eduard (he can't even show compassion for mr. Jingles) yet he is actually going to be rewarded with a job with higher pay after the execution. >
  
  I feel like it's been too long since I've actually watched the movie to comment on this, but I've read the comments on this post and I feel like an important point isn't being mentioned here.
  Percy did not botch the execution for those girls that Delacroix murdered. He did it because he had a personal petty vendetta against Delacroix and wanted him to suffer. He didn't give a squirt of piss about avenging Delacroix victims, or getting justice for their families. He was a petty, vindictive, sadistic man who just happened to end up in a position in which the people he found himself with power over just happened to be death row inmates.
  In another universe, he would be the psychiatric hospital orderly who torments and violently bullies his patients, or the teacher who takes out his anger on his students, or the cop who terrorises lower-class neighbourhoods and gets away with it because "crime is high there, and they need a firm hand". 
  Percy's sadism and Delacroix's crimes can be processed and judged separately.  On one hand, yes, Delacroix was an awful person and deserved to be punished for his crimes. On the other hand, Percy forced a room full of innocent people to watch a man being slowly tortured to death, just because he hated the guy for petty personal reasons. And this is on top of him breaking the guys fingers in a previous incident, and killing the guy's pet for shits and giggles.
  I'm not hugely sympathetic to Delacroix either, but Percy is not justified in what he did and he deserves to be hated for his actions. If he was a secret vigilante, looking to torment Delacroix for what he did to his victims, then maybe your post would be more understandable to me. But he wasn't. He was a gigantic asshole who probably would have ended up on death row himself if he hadn't been born into a position of privilege. >
  
  🥇 >
  
  Calling it unsettling doesn’t mean they have sympathy >
  
  I read the title as the green book and was very confused >
  
  I think he deserved it but I don’t think those that we’re watching it did(the actors in the movie),they just wanted him dead >
  
  It wasn’t about whether he deserved to die or not. It was the manner of death. >
  
  Was it karma? Yeah. Did I enjoy watching him slowly roasted alive. No. >
  
  If you had taken the time to read the book, yes it is painful to read. There is a lot of details and they are no so easy to outrepassed. >
  
  Just because someone is horrible doesn't give someone else the right to torture them >
  
  Hello, a German guy here. I am against the death penalty in general. Is that an unpopular opinion in America? >
  
  No, it’s split roughly down the middle. >
  
  Agreed. I have no empathy for rapists. >
  
  Even the worst of us deserve compassion. >
  
  I think you are misunderstanding "opinion" and "feelings" >
  
  Unpopular emotions should be a sub, lol. r/unpopularfeelings or something like that >
  
  Yes this is unpopular. Delacroix was intended to be a somewhat likeable character, by inmate standards at least. 
  Back then I wondered why Wild Bill (the one that actually committed the crime John was accused of) couldn’t be the one to get the botched execution, but thankfully I’m much more mature now. I’m not sure I would have been ok with that scenario either. >
  
  I don't think you are supposed to feel sympathy for that character. But it is obvious that for the Death Row personnel it is important to do their work correctly. No one takes pleasure in seeing the man literally fry and somebody has to clean it up.
  When you are the one handling executions, it is important TO YOU that you don't need to either see a person die in a violent way. Since for you, it is work. For the audience it can bring satisfaction to see a man get punished, but I think Death Row guards deserve their work to be as clean as possible. >
  
  I think you are supposed to feel sympathy. Do you think the filmmakers showed all that gore to have people think, "Wow, that'd suck to clean up." The movie is very anti death penalty. It wanted you to think stuff like this shouldn't happen to anybody. >
  
  Sounds like that person did an awful thing and you think it's ok to become an awful person in retaliation. I disagree. >
  
  Your empathy shouldn't really be based on crimes he was said to have done. The character is shown as someone who clearly has a low iq, he is also very kind to his pet mouse. It's implied, heavily, that crimes were pinned onto people who were seen as lesser, the main character for example also didn't commit his crime. 
  If he had been responsible for the crimes you should still feel empathy seeing a human hurt in such an awful way... The green mile is a "Jesus" story and is supposed to demonstrate tolerance and help you feel understanding and empathy. 
  If not, it's sad because that's the whole point. >
  
  Treating a prisoner in an inhumane way is just as bad as the crimes they committed, though.  Percy was just as bad as the inmate in this case. >
  
  OP knows what is deserved >
  
  I agree that a child murderer doesn’t deserve any sympathy, but what if he was innocent? Coffee was innocent. He looked guilty as sin, and I don’t blame them for putting him in jail, but he was innocent. If you’d heard about his execution, without knowing he was an innocent magic guy you think good I hope he suffered. Maybe Delacroix was also innocent. The point is that the humanity of the prison guards depends on how they deal with these prisoners in their final moments. >
  
  i don’t think this is unpopular >
  
  I dont feel like this is unpopular. When people watch Green Mile they sympathize with John, I've never heard of anyone sympathizing with Ed before. >
  
  Are you referring to the same inmate? Delacroix was written as a highly sympathetic character, and his execution was intended to outrage us. Then there’s also Percy who we love to hate. >
  
  Others have said it... but the point is that his punishment was to die, and that was more than punishment enough. >
  
  yessss!!! justify torture!!! >
  
  OP is a psychopath who’s only sense or morality is the feeling of being ethically justified, CMV >
  
  Delacroix also causes an innocent to man to be punished for his crime. That's not the point. We assume we are superior, so we don't act barbaric. Evil exist, but we shouldn't become evil fight it. >
  
  you are thinking of wild bill who causes john coffee to be punished for his crime...delacroix is the cajun guy with the mouse >
  
  I thought he was innocent and didn’t actually commit those crimes? >
  
  That was John Coffey, the big black guy. This is another character >
  
  Ohh gotcha my bad, yeah I’m not aware of anyone who feels sorry for Eduard lol >
  
  Is the movie with the big black guy that tried to save two girls from drowning? >
  
  They weren't drowning, but yeah that's the movie. >
  
  Neither di d I, it was a movie. >
  
  Jester’s portrayal of Delacroix was absolutely amazing!! >
  
  Considering all the people who have been exonerated that have been on death row in the past decades. What people "deserve" is acting with humanity. We as a society have to act as the bigger person because being cruel and unusual has ripple effects that impact culture as a whole. 
  Keep stroking your justice boner though/s >
  
  You should have put a spoiler alert on here. No warning as to spoilers from the green mile. You said if you haven’t seen it and then proceeded to ruin it for those who might have wanted to see it. >
  
  The movie is like 25 years old. >
  
  Your point is? >
  
  Me either because I know it’s fake. >
  
  This probably won't have an audience but here goes....
  "I don't feel bad for King Aeetes of Colchis because the Golden Fleece was created by Posidon on an Island, and the nation of Colchis is clearly had no nautical control of the Aegean much less the Black Sea." >
  
  I don't feel sympathy for any rapist regardless if it's a fictional rapist or a real one. >
  
  Felt bad for the spectators who had to smell him >
  
  I haven't seen it, but it sounds like something that could be upsetting to see even if the guy deserves it. >
  
  Neither does anybody else? This isn’t even a necessary opinion to posit, bestie. >
  
  Now ima have to ready TGM for the 45th time lol >
  
  I don't care if a rapist is tortured. There are countless other films about this too. >
  
  I watched green mile in the theater when I was released with my two brothers. When this scene was in full force, my older brother started LAUGHING his head off at the electrocution. My little brother and I slunk back into our seats trying to hide from view. The longer the scene goes the louder my older bro laughs. He must have ruined it for the other movie goers.
  I’ve never been more embarrassed in a theater.
  So. I’m not surprised at your unpopular opinion, as my older brother has an even more unpopular opinion. >
  
  The idea was to always hate Percy, he's entitled, has connections, and shows up thinking he owns the place. What I took away from this whole scene / the Percy character dynamic throughout the movie was that you did not have to be locked up and a convicted criminal to be evil. I think Wild Bill is what most people envision a man on death row who had raped and murdered children, would be like. Uncaring and proud of the horrible crimes he commited. 
  Delacroix, though his actions that lead to his circumstances were deplorable, is what most people think they would feel like after the fact. The guilt and seeking some type of forgiveness, even when you know it won't change the outcome ultimately. 
  Its also interesting to note that all of the other guards on The Mile seem to be  upstanding, fair individuals. They treat the prisoners fairly and with a degree of respect,  understanding that they are human too. 
  Percy then shows that true evil is not always locked inside the cell. That kind of malicious cruelty does exist in people of all walks of life / status / position. And when given the opportunity, will show exactly who they are, without a second thought to anyone else (i.e. the spectators who came to watch the execution)
  Just my take though >
  
  Okay? >
  
  I like boobies >
  
  You shouldn’t. It’s a movie. Not real >
  
  Freaking finally someone said it. The entire sympathetic portrayal of that character was disgusting.
  I like Shawshank Redemption but Green Mile took the sympathy for violent scum too far.
  Everyone in the comments can get off their self-righteous high horse. >
  
  DON'T SPOIL IT BRO >
  
  No I don't have any empathy for side characters, I would barely have it for the main characters in any movie, its a movie after all. >
  
  wait I thought he was framed for those murders. >
  
  that was john coffee who was framed, the guy he is talking about is the cajun dude with the mouse >
  
  In this movie in particular I think it is less about feeling bad for the dude and more about hating Percy, the one not getting the sponge wet. >
  
  Yeah fuck percy. Little prick. You know how one character ruins an actor for you ? That's percy for me. >
  
  Tge dude says hes shocked marrying a 16 year old at 50 affected his career. He may actually be mentally handicapped >
  
  I think he had never been THAT much of a promising star. 
  I mean... He didn't have a great career. It was less than meh. >
  
  I do not disagree with your opinion on this, but I'd posit an idea to explain why others feel differently. 
  Part of the task of any story teller is to make sympathetic characters.  All the people on the Green Mile are criminals whom are slated for execution for their crimes. If they had all been snarling monsters, they would not have been sympathetic characters,  that is characters that you find some common humanity in, that you come to like and identify with and perhaps root for. Delacroix is a child rapist and multiple murderer, yes, and that serves as justification of his fate of execution,  but this isn't the part of his life that is portrayed in the film.  We see him as a kindly old convict with a pet mouse. This makes him sympathetic,  which makes his execution all the more tragic. And this makes Percy's act of deliberately bungling his execution a salient point on which to truly hate him as one of the villains in the narrative. 
  Contrast the humanizing of Delacoix with the demonizing of Wild Bill, for example. Wild Bill is also a rapist and murderer, but never displays any sympathetic characteristics.  He's still violent and unrepentant.  We don't care what happens to him and so he is a monster who's death we rightly consider just. As is the fate of Percy, the guard who, although not a convict, is nonetheless needlessly cruel and sadistic. 
  Obviously,  people in real life are mostly not fictional characters.  We have faults and flaws and are not so easily sorted into easy categories of hero and villain. But the craft of the movie is to make the execution of Delacoix sympathetic despite his crimes to emphasize the wicked cruelty of Percy. >
  
  I mean... from a legal standpoint it's a cruel and unusual punishment and was done purposefully. Morally it's not the greatest to not care but .. I mean, I am not crying either. >
  
  I think the reaction would’ve been different if they took the whole “I spit on your grave” approach. >
  
  I feel sympathy for him suffering like that, the whole point of the set up is to show that there's a difference between an ethical execution that serves justice and has to be carried out under the burden of duty and murder that satisfies a sadist's wish to see someone suffer. >
  
  If someone deserves to die, they should die as swiftly as possible. There's no point to torturing them except to satisfy the torturer's desire to see someone suffer. >
  
  Dude raped 2 little girls. A slow painful death fits the crime. >
  
  I think that counts as 'satisfying a desire to see him suffer'. I agree that he deserves to die, but with the goal of removing someone too hostile and dangerous to be allowed to live. Not just for the sake of seeing him hurt. >
  
  The problem has nothing to do with the inmate but with the people watching. That’s not something you can unsee. It damages you. I don’t agree with Percy for having done that as far as the inmate goes but putting people in a position to watch something potentially traumatic does make him a bad guy. >
  
  Not just watch... smell! They probably got a snootful of crispy-fried cajun cooking that evening. >
  
  I once heard a guy ask someone why they put "a burger" on his head in The Green Mile. >
  
  Generally that is something that sadists genuinely do; They look for a reason, Any reason, To justify their hatred enough to torment them. A satisfaction with seeing them suffer whilst also a reason not to hate themselves for loving it. >
  
  You hit the nail on the head; and it always hits me how people use motivational reasoning ("the person was bad") to excuse their own impulses / actions (sadism here)... >
  
  Honestly the sadists field day on terrible people isn't really a concern for me, The problem is the fact that people are genuinely going onto the internet and talking about how it was justified and all that fun crap. 
  Sadism happen? Cool, Stop making a scene at how deserved it is and move on with your day! But instead, there are people who just go onto U.O so they can get free internet points while doing exactly that. >
  
  Yep. AITA, UO, and /r/politics is pretty notorious for this >
  
  I feel like with Percy, anyone could have been sitting in that chair and he would have done the same thing. He just wanted to see what would happen if he didn't wet the sponge. It was a sick, sadistic experiment to him. He broke the code of justice through ethical execution. >
  
  Yeah, it wasn't for the sake of punishment, it could have been someone falsely convicted instead.
  Sadists don't really have a track record of only hurting people who have done something wrong, it's just easier for them to disproportionately harm those who have. >
  
  I think the point the film tries to make is that even the worst of people deserve basic human decency.
  You failed at getting that message. >
  
  No they don't. >
  
  We do it more for our sake than theirs. >
  
  For my sake I want them to suffer as much as possible >
  
  That's juvenile. We as a society mete out that kind of punishment for justice, not some self-righteous sadism. >
  
  But it's still sadistic. That monster is still human, and is still entitled to a trial and safety from cruel and unusual punishment under law. I'm sorry but the justice system can't cater to the anger of the bereaved, understandable though it may be >
  
  IMHO The Green Mile is one of the top 5 book adaptations Hollywood has ever created. Incredible book, incredible movie. >
  
  Percy was a vile character, and Hutchison, who played him, is a creepy-ass dude, marrying a 16 y/o when he was 51. >
  
  Bad joke >
  
  His sentence was to be killed, a burden no one wants to bear, when someone served their sentence they should have the option of serving it with dignity, Delacroix did reprehensible things and deserved death, but instilling pain and suffering for your own sadistic pleasure is wrong. Delacroix was simply serving his sentence and should have been given the opportunity to do it with dignity like everyone else >
  
  Did his victims get the opportunity to die with dignity and recieve mercy? >
  
  Your thinking with regard to this issue is quite juvenile and simplistic. If you’d humour me for a moment, I want to illustrate one of the fundamental reasons that “cruel and unusual punishments” are outlawed. Are we, as the audience, actually 100% certain that Delacroix was guilty. I’m not talking “he’s convicted, therefore he is guilty”, I mean are you 100%, without a single shadow of a possible doubt, certain that he was the one who actually committed those crimes? 
  I haven’t watched the film for a long time, and cannot remember if there is any moment where it’s made clear whether he was guilty or not. Irrespective, my underlying argument still stands.
  Cruel and unusual punishments are outlawed in no small part due to the fact that the justice system is imperfect by nature. It is exceedingly rare that we’re completely certain of a person’s crimes; usually only with camera footage or if there is a confession.
  The emotional harm and distress that could come to people if they later discovered that an ultimately innocent person was tortured to death is immeasurable. 
  Moreover, we have plenty of evidence which indicates that irrespective of how “righteous” you believe your case to be, dealing out violence and harm to others is likely to take an emotional toll on you. Just think of how many soldiers develop PTSD related to the things they’ve done or seen, even if they were fighting for a cause widely accepted as “just”. 
  The court and justice system is there to relieve wronged parties of the responsibility of having to take retributory action. Whether that’s because they wouldn’t have the means to do so, or to protect them from harming themselves or others, regardless of guilt or innocence. It is by no means perfect, but I can assure you that if you spent any time in a society with open vigilante justice, you would very rapidly realise the need for it to work as it does. Either that or you’d certainly realise it the moment just before the mob caves your skull in for a crime you didn’t commit.
  I understand it sucks, and we have to do everything we can to hold guilty people accountable with proportionate punishment, but torture, callousness and hatred are not the way to do this. I hope I’ve illustrated a little more of the nuance that isn’t necessarily driven solely by blind rage. >
  
  Exactly. Maybe he deserved it, but the whole point is, as a society, we are supposed to be better than that >
  
  He did ent deserve it because he was innocent >
  
  You’re confused. The character were talking about was not innocent >
  
  Zamn >
  
  I swear people who comment like this are actual NPC's/bots >
  
  There's certainly complexity in this topic.  But torture is never justified.
  You have my upvote. >
  
  “Torture is never justified” never? Not under any circumstances? >
  
  Do you have an example of a circumstance where torture is justified? >
  
  Say you're in a position where you're interrogating a terrorist who knows where a bomb is that is soon going to go off but you don't. He won't say anything when you question him. Do you start the torture to make him talk or do you let him keep ignoring your questions? >
  
  Any information you get by torturing him is mute as he will tell you anything you want to hear after a while to make you stop. There is no way to know if you got any truth out of it >
  
  That's true, good answer. >
  
  The green mile is the first experience I have ever had with empathy. It’s also the only time I’ve ever seen my stone cold dad cry. I don’t think I’ve met anyone who wasn’t heartbroken watching that movie so that may be a bit concerning that you don’t feel any empathy >
  
  I highly recommend the book. I'd seen the movie plenty of times before reading the book (the movie is an almost line-by-line perfect adaptation), but I still wept when I read it. >
  
  Nah, it's not okay. We need to be better as a society. Hell, the whole fucking thing follows around an innocent man put to death.
  Lotta y'all need to find some empathy. >
  
  Really is scary how many people are okay with vengeance.  Maybe just reddit hive mind, but that's kind of the scary part. >
  
  If society as a whole was introduced to the concept of retribution and vengeance again, it would be a whole lot more peaceful. 
  But instead we get a society where repeat offenders don't give a fuck because they know they'll just be back out on the street in a week anyways. 
  We need to make people who want to do bad things, scared to do them again. Public execution, removal of appendages, forced castration, all of it. Make criminals afraid. :) >
  
  Instilling fear will create peace, I doubt it lord palpatine. >
  
  Man there are a lot of people in this thread that should be id'd and put on a list as people who are never allowed to get any kind of position of power.
  Big dictator energy in this comment section >
  
  Well Percy is a piece of shit in real life.
  Regardless of the crime, there's protocol.  Percy was a sick mf who got a kick out of it. But kudos on making him so hated >
  
  What?! How did I not know this?! >
  
  Most country don't have death penalty , even Cuba. >
  
  Living in Cuba is a death sentence >
  
  Funny. You shoild come and visit sometimes. >
  
  I really want to. Any tips for an Australian? >
  
  Yes, bring euros or pounds. Otherwise it is the safest country on earth for tourists, Cuba wins this title every year. >
  
  Percy is the villain because he wanted to see the  torment. I believe there are crimes where only the removal of life is the only appropriate penalty but we have to respect life itself in not causing undue suffering. >
  
  I think this is one of the issues with movies and tv. While entertainment people generally separate them from real life. Like seeing that in a movie setting you can detach it from reality. But when you see something that’s real then it’s a different story
  I always compare this to subs like r/fighting or something. Where we’re conditioned in action movies that people can just get knocked out and hit the floor. But then go to subs like that where you see actual fights, actual people getting their head stomped or smashing it on the ground and realize a person could actually be a vegetable from the hit or even dead
  I’m not saying you’re wrong in the context of the movie, but I do wonder if this were real life would you have the same sensibilities if you actually saw something like this. Then again Reddit is kind of fucked where people are fine with someone getting punched in the face for calling someone a booger >
  
  this dudes so edgy >
  
  Wasn't the executed guy accused wrongly, though? >
  
  You might be thinking of Michael Clark Duncan’s character, who was.  The title can be a little confusing because MCD would naturally be “the dude” that comes to mind first, but “the dude” in question is another guy who is also a rapist that was executed.  
  If I’m mistaken, I apologize. >
  
  If we are to kill criminals, IMO, it should be humane.
  Death penalty shouldn’t be for vengeance, just should be like taking out the trash. >
  
  Watching both green mile and shaw shank made me question our prison/legal system. Yes Eduard committed crimes that led to him being put on the electric chair, but that's not the version of Eduard we are shown. Eduard has clearly undergone some sort of reform - he trains and befriends mr jingles and is close enough to the guards that they feel comfortable speaking to him by sitting next to him in his cell with the door open. One of the goals of our prison system is to help people reform - with the electric chair being used when the crimes are so serious that there is no hope of the criminal reforming enough to return to society. (think of the aggressive tatooed prisoner who is eventually shot by Percy). I think Eduard has reformed and he even tells the prison guards something along the lines of 'I wish I had met you guys earlier'. The Eduard we are shown has reformed and feels sorry for the mistakes he has made and that makes his execution even sadder when it is botched. I don't think this Eduard is capable of the crimes he previously committed and that is what makes me feel sorry for him during the execution. 
  It's made even sadder by the realisation that Percy probably deserves to be on the chair more than Eduard (he can't even show compassion for mr. Jingles) yet he is actually going to be rewarded with a job with higher pay after the execution. >
  
  I feel like it's been too long since I've actually watched the movie to comment on this, but I've read the comments on this post and I feel like an important point isn't being mentioned here.
  Percy did not botch the execution for those girls that Delacroix murdered. He did it because he had a personal petty vendetta against Delacroix and wanted him to suffer. He didn't give a squirt of piss about avenging Delacroix victims, or getting justice for their families. He was a petty, vindictive, sadistic man who just happened to end up in a position in which the people he found himself with power over just happened to be death row inmates.
  In another universe, he would be the psychiatric hospital orderly who torments and violently bullies his patients, or the teacher who takes out his anger on his students, or the cop who terrorises lower-class neighbourhoods and gets away with it because "crime is high there, and they need a firm hand". 
  Percy's sadism and Delacroix's crimes can be processed and judged separately.  On one hand, yes, Delacroix was an awful person and deserved to be punished for his crimes. On the other hand, Percy forced a room full of innocent people to watch a man being slowly tortured to death, just because he hated the guy for petty personal reasons. And this is on top of him breaking the guys fingers in a previous incident, and killing the guy's pet for shits and giggles.
  I'm not hugely sympathetic to Delacroix either, but Percy is not justified in what he did and he deserves to be hated for his actions. If he was a secret vigilante, looking to torment Delacroix for what he did to his victims, then maybe your post would be more understandable to me. But he wasn't. He was a gigantic asshole who probably would have ended up on death row himself if he hadn't been born into a position of privilege. >
  
  🥇 >
  
  Calling it unsettling doesn’t mean they have sympathy >
  
  I read the title as the green book and was very confused >
  
  I think he deserved it but I don’t think those that we’re watching it did(the actors in the movie),they just wanted him dead >
  
  It wasn’t about whether he deserved to die or not. It was the manner of death. >
  
  Was it karma? Yeah. Did I enjoy watching him slowly roasted alive. No. >
  
  If you had taken the time to read the book, yes it is painful to read. There is a lot of details and they are no so easy to outrepassed. >
  
  Just because someone is horrible doesn't give someone else the right to torture them >
  
  Hello, a German guy here. I am against the death penalty in general. Is that an unpopular opinion in America? >
  
  No, it’s split roughly down the middle. >
  
  Agreed. I have no empathy for rapists. >
  
  Even the worst of us deserve compassion. >
  
  I think you are misunderstanding "opinion" and "feelings" >
  
  Unpopular emotions should be a sub, lol. r/unpopularfeelings or something like that