“My Debts to Society Paid in Full”: An In-Depth Analysis of Volunteers’ Last Words

Abstract

Since the 1976 Gregg v. Georgia decision, everyone sentenced to death in the U.S. has automatic appeals to ensure that no procedural errors exist in the condemned person’s capital case. However, approximately 10% of executions since 1976 have involved an individual or “volunteer” who waived their remaining appeals to their death sentence, which inevitably expedited their execution. Scholars have since explored the legality of “volunteering” for execution and why they would make this decision. To date, no study has exclusively analyzed the final statements of executed volunteers. This study seeks to bridge the gap between our knowledge about this population from court records and their final statements before execution. Final statements can give researchers another way to understand this population, notably their last thoughts, and would generally expand our knowledge of this relatively small population.