Week Four: Criminal Justice and “Disease”
• When Lupin is “outed” as a werewolf, he is forced to resign his job and explains that, “Parents wouldn’t want a werewolf teaching their children.” Compare this to instances such as Boy Scout Troop Leaders being forced to quit after being outed as LGBTQ or undocumented persons who are legally ineligible to work at all. Does our society view being LGBTQ as a “disease” like being a werewolf? What about undocumented persons? What other groups of people are treated as “diseased” or undeserving of the equal rights or have been treated as such in our history? • When we talk about prejudices (like anti-werewolf fears), we often think first of outright discrimination or hate crimes. Lupin, however, is not subjected to outward hostility so much as distrust which bars him from holding a job. Do you see this same, more subtle discrimination in our society? Are you guilty of it? If you were hiring for a job and you had two equally qualified candidates, one of your race (or more like you) and one of another race (or less like you), who would you choose? Why? • In the US, minorities are significantly more likely to have lower incomes, be unemployed, or even be convicted of a crime. While anti-discrimination laws exist, do you think these do enough to protect against subtle prejudices? If a law existed in the wizarding world that protected werewolves from being denied jobs based on their “disease,” would it solve the problem? If not, how could the problem be solved? • Jo Rowling has explained that the idea for dementors came to her after experiencing depression herself. They are a physical representation of depression and fear in the wizarding world. With this in mind, what do you think of the justice or morality of the wizarding prison system? Do you consider dementors and Azkaban a form of torture? How do the conditions of Azkaban compare to conditions in our own jails? What is the purpose of prison? What do you think its purpose should be? • How does the Dementor’s Kiss compare to the death penalty? Given the potential to wrongfully convict an innocent person to death (or worse), is this fair, just, or moral? • In the Muggle world, Harry would likely be diagnosed with depression, a mental illness, in this book. Does this change your understanding of depression? Of Harry? How does he cope? How can this narrative be used as a tool for coping with and understanding our own psychological struggles? • Sirius’s and Buckbeak’s individual narratives follow somewhat parallel arcs. Was this intentional? Are animals deserving of thesame protections against execution as humans? If the death penalty is wrong for humans, is it wrong for animals, too? • The example of Lennox, a dog in Belfast who was executed for looking similar to an “illegal” breed, was brought up in our group. Many municipalities have laws against certain breeds, such as pit bulls, because they are deemed “dangerous dogs.” Is this fair? Or is it just, as some suggest, “dog racism”? • Should an animal which has harmed a human be executed? Why or why not?