“This inmate declined to make a last statement”: A Quantitative Exploration of the Determinants of Inmate Execution Final Statements in Texas, 1982-2022

Year 2024, Volume: 28 Issue: 3, 293 - 299, 20.09.2024

Mark Littler John Walliss

https://doi.org/10.53487/atasobed.1417026

Abstract

The last two decades have witnessed a significant growth in the volume of academic work exploring the final statements of inmates executed in the United States of America. While this has done much to advance academic understanding of final statements, comparably little attention has been paid to the not-insignificant number of inmates who decline to speak prior to their execution. The article presents the results of a regression analysis of a 574-case data set covering all executions conducted in Texas between December 1982 and April 2022. Despite including a range of variables, analysis identified only a single significant result: the presence of victims' family and/or close friends. The significance of this finding for existing scholarship and practice is discussed, alongside possible directions for future research.

Keywords

death row, Texas, capital punishment, final statements

Project Number

N/A

“This inmate declined to make a last statement”: A Quantitative Exploration of the Determinants of Inmate Execution Final Statements in Texas, 1982-2022

Abstract

Dr John Walliss is senior lecturer in Criminology in the School of Law and Criminology, Liverpool Hope University, UK

Assoc Prof Mark Littler is associate professor in the School of Law and Criminology, Liverpool Hope University, UK

Keywords

Death row, capital punishment, final statements, texas, USA

Ethical Statement

approved by Law & Criminology ethics board

Supporting Institution

Liverpool Hope University

Project Number

N/A

Thanks

N/A

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