Analyzing the Final Statements of Death Row Inmates

The word “love” cropped up in the final statements of Texas death row inmates more than any other word.

“Published on the department’s website, the inmates’ last prayers, apologies and insults form a 30-year database of grief and outrage, studded with protests of innocence and requests for absolution. Taken together, they form a kind of gallows poetry in verses both long and short,” Matt Pearce wrote in the Los Angeles Times.

Pearce to an April post from Jon Millward, a blogger who gave himself the grim task of analyzing the final statements of 478 inmates Texas has put to death from 1982 to February 2012. (Six more men have been executed since February, putting the total number at 484).

“It turns out that the word prisoners in Texas most use before they are put to death for their crimes is love. Their last statements are littered with loves. Prisoners tell their families, who are often right there, behind glass, about to watch their condemned relative die, that they love them. In fact, family is the second most frequently spoken word, with thank coming in third,” Millward writes.

Top 21 Most Frequently Appearing Words in Final Statements of Executed Offenders

1. Love
2. Family
3. Thank
4. Sorry
5. God
6. Just
7. Forgive
8. Lord
9. Life
10. Hope
11. Going
12. People
13. Peace
14. Jesus
15. Death
16. Ask
17. Warden
18. Pain
19. Keep
20. Strong
21. Father