In Their Own Words: A Qualitative Exploration of Last Statements of Capital Punishment Inmates in the State of Missouri, 1995–2011

Last statements have been a common practice as part of capital punishment as far back as the 1300s in Europe. In the United States, the first execution occurred in 1608, and currently, 32 states have the death penalty. In 1991, Missouri integrated death row inmates into the general prison population...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Omega: Journal of Death and Dying 2017-09, Vol.75 (4), p.376-394
Main Authors: Upton, Maranda A., Carwile, Tabitha M., Brown, Kristina S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Capital Punishment
Communication
Death & dying
Death row
Emotions
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Missouri
Population
Prisoners
Prisoners - psychology
Punishment
Qualitative research
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Summary:Last statements have been a common practice as part of capital punishment as far back as the 1300s in Europe. In the United States, the first execution occurred in 1608, and currently, 32 states have the death penalty. In 1991, Missouri integrated death row inmates into the general prison population, which makes this population unique compared with other death row populations across the United States. This article is a qualitative study on the themes found in the last statements of 46 capitally punished inmates in Missouri from 1995 to 2011. The purpose of this study was to determine if capital punishment inmates being housed in the general population had an impact on an inmate’s last statement prior to execution. Three domains emerged from these last statements: life, death, and execution. The most common theme identified was love while the least common theme was acceptance. The themes found in this research were consistent with previous studies which looked at inmates executed in Texas where inmates sentenced to capital punishment are separated from the general prison population. Implications, limitations, and future research areas are discussed.
ISSN:0030-2228
1541-3764
DOI:10.1177/0030222816652972