Compassion is a practical necessity for humane work within a death penalty team.

Evidence

Spiritual advisors offer prayers of support immediately before the inmate is escorted to the death chamber. As one spiritual advisor explained, “I prayed with him at the end… . He tried to hug me through the bars. Fifteen minutes later he was dead.” One of the members aptly described their supportive role: “You have to be compassionate or else you can’t perform your work” (Osofsky et al., 2005). — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 2022

Categorization

• DEFINE: Shows how moral self-conception is maintained through role segregation even while physically proximate to killing.