Execution Workers Mental Health Policy Recommendation

Abstract

Conversations around the Death Penalty often focus on its morality and concepts such as retribution and deterrence. This paper considers the people who perform executions and how their work impacts them. Execution workers are people with regular jobs, placed in exceptionally stressful situations. This paper contends that staff employees should receive increased support following their role in executions due to the potential harm they face due to the state's decision to carry out executions. The stress and difficulty of these roles and the lack of support offered compared to other positions where people kill for the state's interest create an inequity faced by execution workers. The paper proceeds with background information about the Death Penalty before using Capabilities and Social Structures to examine inequities that these execution workers face. Next, it offers moral justification for a policy recommendation and responds to counterarguments before concluding. [From Introduction]