Death Row Confinement and the Meaning of Last Words

Laws

Robert Johnson¹  Laura Caitlin Kanewske² 

[1] Department of Justice, Law and Criminology, American University, 4400 Massachusetts Avenue, Washington, DC 20016, USA;

关键词: last words;    executions;    death row;   

DOI  :  10.3390/laws3010141

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Life under sentence of death can be a transformative process. One measure of this transformation can be found in last words, which often highlight the humanity of condemned prisoners on the threshold of execution, in sharp contrast to popular conceptions of these prisoners as evil, remorseless, and irredeemable. Our reading of last words suggests that the transformation process can be best understood by examining the dominant contours of the death row experience, the most recent formative experience in the lives of condemned prisoners before they are put to death.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2014 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.