Last Words and the Death Penalty: Voices of the Condemned and Their Co-victims (Criminal Justice: Recent Scholarship)

Vollum analyzes the content of the last statements of the condemned and statements made by co-victims; he seek to give voice to these two different groups. Vollum finds that the most dominant themes among the condemned center around transformation, redemption, and positive messages of connection to others. The most dominant themes of co-victims are more conflicting with a mix of frustration with the death penalty process, relief that it is over, and the desire for justice or revenge. Through their own words, we learn that the death penalty is neither a soothing salve for the pain and suffering of co-victims nor simply an extraction of evil and irredeemable criminals.