‘I Would Like To Thank You’: Death Row Inmates’ Last Words Are Mostly ‘Positive’, Study Finds
People facing execution on death row are among the few humans who know the exact moment of their death - and their last words are recorded.
Surprisingly, scientists found that around 80% of these inmates (often convicted of murder) have a ‘positive’ message just before they die.
Researchers at Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, Germany, analysed 407 ‘last words’ from criminals executed in Texas.
Some of the statements included, Daniel Lopez, age 27, who said before his execution last summer, ‘I would like to thank you. I hope this execution helps my family and also the victim’s family.
'This was never meant to be, sure beyond my power. I can only walk the path before me and make the best of it. I am sorry for putting y'all through this. I am sorry, I love you. I am ready. May we all go to Heaven.’
Richard Masterton, 43: 'Sending me to a better place. I am alright with this, you have to live and die by the choices that we make. I have made mine.’
Lisa Ann Coleman, 38, said 'I just want to tell my family I love them; my son, I love him. The girls on the row, I love them and keep their heads up.’
Using software to analyse the language, they found that the statements - on average, 104 words in length - were largely positive in tone.
The researchers wrote, ‘'The final statements of Texas death row inmates conveyed extremely positive expressions that reflected the emotional processes of coping with mortality.’
