Ethnic Differences in the Statements Made by Inmates About to be Executed in Texas

Death Row Confinement and the Meaning of Last Words

“…Interestingly, the researchers found that while the similarities in last statements across ethnic groups outweighed the differences-as in all studies of last words, positive sentiments prevailed-Hispanic Americans' statements included the greatest degree of religious content while African Americans' included the least ( [12], p. 299). This is surprising given the prominent role of religion in the lives of African Americans facing death or contemplating suicide ( [12], p. 299, citing [15]). Furthermore, while African Americans and Hispanic Americans may be expected to express more negative emotions in their last statements due to discrimination in their dealings with the criminal justice system [12], no significant differences were found in the degree or frequency of negative emotions in the last statements of these ethnic groups and Euro-Americans ( [12], p. 299).…”

“…Several studies focus on general themes adduced in the last words of inmates put to death in Texas, with sample sizes ranging from 237 [11] to 331 [12] last statements. 1 In one of the earliest comprehensive studies of last words, Slone et al constructed a general typology of executed offenders in Texas, categorizing offenders into four broad but distinct types based on the content of their last words: contrite (33% of cases); philosopher (16% of cases); defiant (12% of cases); and externalizer (10% of cases) [13].…”

“…Lester and Gunn found nine content areas using a word count program: affective and emotion processes, positive emotions, positive feelings, discrepancy (words like should, would, could, etc. ), references to others, past tense verbs, religion, physical states and functions, and sex and sexuality ( [12], p. 299). Interestingly, the researchers found that while the similarities in last statements across ethnic groups outweighed the differences-as in all studies of last words, positive sentiments prevailed-Hispanic Americans' statements included the greatest degree of religious content while African Americans' included the least ( [12], p. 299).…”

“…), references to others, past tense verbs, religion, physical states and functions, and sex and sexuality ( [12], p. 299). Interestingly, the researchers found that while the similarities in last statements across ethnic groups outweighed the differences-as in all studies of last words, positive sentiments prevailed-Hispanic Americans' statements included the greatest degree of religious content while African Americans' included the least ( [12], p. 299). This is surprising given the prominent role of religion in the lives of African Americans facing death or contemplating suicide ( [12], p. 299, citing [15]).…”

Dilated LSTM with attention for Classification of Suicide Notes

“…Furthermore, it was found that Verbs, Adverb and Adjectives are often used to communicate content, however previous studies have found (Jones and Bennell, 2007;Gregory, 1999) that individuals that commit suicide are under a higher drive and therefore would reference a higher amount of objects (through nouns) rather than using descriptive language such as adjectives and adverbs. Affect Analysis The analysis of emotions in suicide notes and last statements has often been addressed in research (Schoene and Dethlefs, 2018;Lester and Gunn III, 2013) The number of Affect words is highest in LS notes, whilst they are lowest in DL notes, this could be related to the emotional Tone of a note (see Table 1). This also applies to the amount of Negative emotions as they are highest in DL notes and Positive emotions as these are highest in LS notes.…”