I recently read an analysis of the final statements of the 446 executed men and women in Texas since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. They examined the most uttered words and this is the number of times each word was spoken:
Love*: 630
Thanks*: 243
Sorry: 211
God: 175
Death*: 132
Lord: 130
Life: 126
Peace: 95
Mom*: 86
Jesus: 86
Pray*: 80
Warden: 74
Kill*: 69
Ready: 65
Innocent: 45
Allah: 41
Heaven: 40
Closure: 20
Fear: 14
Regret*: 12
Deserve: 10
Guilty: 7
Hell: 6
Not Guilty: 4
Afraid: 1
*includes all applicable words
A few things come to mind. Only one person used the word 'afraid' despite all 446 of them were about to be put to death? Really? But I wonder what I would say if I were about to be executed. I guess it would depend on what I did. I mean, I would probably say I loved my wife but what if I was on death row for killing her? Would I still say it then?
Finally, the words 'innocent' and 'not guilty' were used 45 and 4 times respectively. So, what are the odds one of those people were telling the truth and they were actually innocent? I mean they had nothing to lose at that time so why not just come clean?
Or is it safe to guess a few of God's children were executed for a crime they did not commit? Is it worth executing 446 men and women if even one of them was in fact not a murderer? A few of those executed here in Texas were mentally retarded and/or mentally ill. Is it all right to execute people with these conditions? In the Mormon faith some of these individuals probably wouldn't even qualify for baptism because of their cognitive state, but that is just a speculation.
If you ask me life sentences make more sense. Allowing someone to slowly rot away in a 10x5 cell for several decades seems a lot worse than putting them out of their misery. Besides, if a mistake is made and they are exonerated because of DNA or new evidence (it has happened numerous times) at least there is an opportunity to try and make things right.
But then I'm a social worker and were not too hip on the whole capital punishment thing. Maybe I'm just a 'soft on crime liberal' but I am worried that in this modern era a man or woman might be put to death for something they simply did not do, there is no coming back from that one.
2 comments:
Very interesting. I never thought about what my last words would be. Probably because I've never thought about killing anyone! I'm not big on capital punishment. But there are the most evil who deserve the death penalty. Let's talk about something more cheerful like genital warts or something.
im not trying to advocate one way or the other, but one thing about a life sentence though is that the tax payer has to pay to keep that person alive for the rest of their life.
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