Passing Through Gethsemane Continued: Punishment and Redemption for Crime

After Brother Edward committed his crimes as Charles Dexter, he was sentenced to "Death of Personality", where the person's entire personality is wiped away and he/she is given a new one and then will spend the rest of his/her days serving the community he/she harmed. There are several moments in the show where this is discussed - first when Garibaldi and Delenn watch the news and see a criminal sentenced to death of personality and she asks about it; then when we realize Brother Edward had the same thing done to him for crimes he committed; and finally when Malcolm is shown at the end as a new monk in Brother Theo's order, and you realize that he has had the death of personality sentence carried out.

In each of these cases, a different perspective is given to the punishment. In the first case, you can see that someone has done some horrific things - you don't know the person, you just hear about the crimes. Garibaldi is supportive of the punishment. Delenn is horrified. Because you don't know the person who committed the crime, and it seems horrific on first knowledge, I bet a lot of people may go along with Garibaldi - especially because it's not the death penalty, but it still is some form of justice. This is a very superficial way of learning about crime and punishment in the Babylon 5 human society.

In the second case, you get to know Brother Edward. You see the good he is doing in his new life - in fact, you are able to know him and judge him without knowing about his past. Once you find out what he has done, it's easy to say - he is good now because he has not committed any crimes since, and he is serving his sentence by doing good. But the families of those women he murdered were not satisfied. It was not enough for them for Charles Dexter to have his personality wiped away - they wanted his blood too. Once Brother Edward found out who he was and what he had done he went to seek redemption and punishment. He willingly went looking for the relatives and let them torture and kill him, because he believed this was the only way into God's graces and to be forgiven.

In the third case, you know Malcolm only as the bloodthirsty relative who has committed a brutal, premeditated crime of murder. He laughed at the murder of Brother Edward/Charles Dexter. He freely admitted what he had done - in fact he was proud! So, does that make him any better or any worse than Charles Dexter? Did that redeem the relative he was trying to avenge? After we see him in this light, we see him again as the new monk, who is quiet and shy. Who wants to serve humanity now by becoming a monk and going to Earth. Sheridan is absolutely appalled and can't shake his hand at first. But Brother Theo has forgiven Malcolm and is ready to help him serve his obligation to society. He must forcibly tell Sheridan, "Forgiveness is a hard thing..." Brother Theo seems to be saying - Brother Edward is gone, but I won't let his sacrifice be in vain. I will learn from him and from what happened and continue to try and make things better.

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