Death-penalty support personnel become morally disengaged by repeated exposure

Evidence

Although they are part of the execution team, they approach their work from an entirely different perspective, as one of the members explained: “I didn’t feel like I was a part of taking life. I was there for life, not death” (Osofsky et al., 2005). The more the members of the support team humanize their services, the more helpful they can be. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 2023 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Repeated violent acts progressively extinguish moral discomfort within a supportive group. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology: Key Readings, 4153; Genocide produces a moral reversal where killing itself becomes a duty. — Leonard S. Newman and Ralph Erber (eds.), Understanding Genocide: The Social…, 135; The death penalty in practice fell capriciously on a random handful of the condemned. — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 2002 (+9 more)

Broader Connections

• Support staff cope by humanizing inmates while executioners cope by dehumanizing them #complicates (0.76) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 2023
• Support staff reframe execution work as serving life, not death #complicates (0.72)