How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
"My poor mother…"
"…Those poor children. Those poor parents. They must be in hell." (2.108, 116)
Pat worries about his own mother, and then (a few paragraphs on) expresses sympathy for the parents of the kids he helped kill. His mother and their mothers are linked: they're all losing children by violence. Pat is sympathetic in part because he seems genuinely grieved for what he did and can mentally put himself and his own mother in the place of those who he killed. Robert Lee Willie seems less capable of doing this.
Quote #2
"I have a son that is in the grave—that I can show you—who is the product of this 'rehabilitated man.'" (3.169)
Family ties and family grief are an important argument for the death penalty throughout the novel. LeBlanc, as a father, is the one who knows most clearly what Pat has done. Rehabilitation can't bring back LeBlanc's son.
Quote #3
"Dear Brother," he says, "don't worry about me, I'll be okay. You keep your cool, it's the only way you'll make it in this place. When you get out someday, take care of Mama. Remember the promise you made to me. I love you. Your big brother." (4.180)
Pat is trying to take care of his brother, Eddie, who is in prison for life (or close to it). Eddie's a murderer, too, of course—but he and his brother still love each other. Their families make them human—even though the family ties, in their case, were part of what led them, or encouraged them, to help each other commit murder.