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Harry Potter advocates the death penalty

Bellatrix Lestrange

Helena Bonham Carter does "Psycho Bitch" so well

Some criminals are so bad that the only punishment for them is death. At least, this is the view seemingly endorsed by the Harry Potter universe – which is otherwise pretty liberal in its worldview.

Bellatrix Lestrange is locked up in Azkaban, the most fearsome of all wizard prisons, for her role in torturing Neville Longbottom’s parents Frank and Alice (presumably she committed a bunch of other crimes during Voldemort’s first reign of terror, too). Several years later, turncoat Dementors break Bellatrix out of Azkaban; when she escapes, she’s still loyal to Voldemort, and still determined to bring down the wizard/Muggle status quo.

So basically, her time in prison hasn’t rehabilited her even a bit. It hasn’t deterred her from committing future crimes. Nor has it ultimately deprived her of anything: she comes out of Azkaban and instantly resumes her magical power and position at Voldemort’s right hand. Bellatrix demonstrates the failure of incarceration as a means of punishment. The only way for society to deal with criminals of this nature, then, is to execute them, and Molly Weasley comes Bellatrix’s executioner during the Battle of Hogwarts.

And, of course, there’s Voldemort himself. Through the series Harry knows that at some point he’ll have to defeat Voldemort – and it’s made clear, first implicitly and later explicitly, that “defeat” actually means “kill”. It’s not like Voldemort can be locked up in a tower for the rest of his life, Grindelwald-style (though Deathly Hallows hints that Grindelwald eventually felt remorse for his crimes, suggesting rehabilitation does work in some circumstances). The only punishment suitable for the Dark Lord is death, and while Harry technically doesn’t kill Voldemort, Voldemort does end up dead.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 26th, 2011 at 1:34 pm and is filed under Absurdly serious pop-culture analysis, Reading. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

  • Fluke88

    I disagree. If we use Prof. Dumbledore as the moral compass in the Harry Potter universe, and Jk Rowling herself has stated that Dumbledore speaks for herself in the books, then this is not the case.
    Dumbledore has repeatedly stated throughout the series that Voldemort’s inability to perceive the idea that there are “far worse things in the living world than death” has always been his greatest weakness. As Voldemort is the epitome of all that is evil, and, to an extent, Dumbledore is the epitome of all that is good, we surely cannot say that the series endorses the death penalty, quite the opposite.
    As far as the relationship between Harry/Voldemort goes, the prophecy stated that “one cannot live while the other survives” – thus death is an inherent and inescapable reality for one of the duo and not a case of judgement for Voldemort’s wrongdoing (as the death penalty would be) but an ultimatum that must be fulfilled by the death of one of them.
    What I am basically saying is that it’s typical of the “Dark Side” to endorse death as a means of punishment and Harry Is drawn into this world unitentionally through the death of his parents at Voldemort’s hands.
    Harry also made the decision to both not kill Wormtail in the “Prisoner of Askaban”, a deed which was later repaid by him in the seventh book and and therefore another example of JK Rowling NOT endorsing the death penalty.

  • Rocko212

    This is not true. Bellatrix Lestrange and the other Death Eaters happen to be both extremely powerful and completely believe that Muggles and Muggleborns are worthless and should die (why else would you join an organization dedicated to their destruction?), meaning that less than fourteen years in Azkaban probably won’t do much to stop them. Voldemort’s death was inevitable, due to the prophecy.
    In addition, there are numerous examples when Rowling seems to be against the death penalty. As you said, Dumbledore refuses to kill Grindelwald. Harry himself never kills anyone, and “good guys” in the books only ever kill anyone out of absolute necessity or extreme anger.