Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Toledo, 2004. / Typescript. "A dissertation [submitted] as partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Doctor of Philosophy degree in Psychology." Bibliography: leaves 126-136.

Death row is a space across the United States that continues to expand, not only in numbers, but in the length of time inmates spend confined there. Fewer and fewer inmates are executed and death row is now increasingly the only punishment of capital convicts. This thesis examines the retributive and punitive treatment of death-sentenced offenders within that space and, by viewing that form of imprisonment as part of a communication process, it assesses the contribution it makes to the death penalty more generally in the USA to argue that death row imprisonment is crucial in sustaining the distinction of capital offenders, and the death penalty itself.Just as death row receives images from wider culture, it simultaneously generates images that complement and validate those it receives, of death sentenced offenders as dangerous monsters. These images, of offenders who require punitive detention, align with the dominant supportive rationale of capital punishment, retribution, and provide a basis for continued death penalty support in an era of declining executions.In the “hidden world” of death row, prisoners are left to be abused, mistreated, and denied privileges and opportunities available to other prisoners. The capital offender is presented by his death row incarceration as different from all other offenders serving other sentences, even life without parole. Death row incarceration communicates the worth and status of the condemned, presenting him as a dangerous, and dehumanised other, who needs to be securely detained, and restricted. Thus death row validates and justifies the cultural needs of capital punishment. Just as wider culture, including, specifically, the legal community, dictates a requirement for punitive detention, death row corroborates that image with its own in a self-affirming loop. Death row is therefore functional beyond the mere holding of offenders, it affirms cultural descriptions of the condemned and thus justifies, and provides support for, the very continuation of capital punishment itself.

No description available.

The United States is one of few Western nations that administers capital punishment to their condemned criminals. Texas has executed the most inmates of any state in the U.S. This prompted questions about the psychological characteristics of death row inmates. The purpose of this essay is to widen the perspective on inmates serving capital sentences by analyzing their final statements. The focus of this essay was centered on acute anxiety of death among inmates, visible in their final statements, as a result of an accelerated process of dying. Using three of the eight phases in Erik H. Erikson’s psychosocial theory on individual development, where the final phase is centered around the conflict between integrity and despair, the inmates’ final statements were analyzed. Despair is here identified by three factors: an inability to accept ones situation, anxiety of death and a strong feeling of regret. Through textual analysis, certain codes affiliated with Erikson’s theory were identified and studied. In addition to this, the inmates’ trust and comfort in a transcendental power was also studied as a part of mitigating anxiety among inmates. Erikson’s theory is in this essay supplemented by discourse analysis and discourse psychology in particular to provide additional context to the inmates’ situation. A sociopolitical dimension was also added to provide further analysis. The study found that inmates tend to regret the actions that led them to the incarceration, while also accepting their situation, which does not indicate acute anxiety of dying but rather expression of what is in this paper called the inmate discourse, in which inmates are expected by the wider society to regret their actions. Inmates also tend to describe God or a transcendental authority as a forgiving and loving one, which in this paper is identified not only as a way of finding comfort in a dire situation, but also to belong to a larger American community through religious identification.

No description available.

This thesis attempts to identify and explain what influences the length of time an inmate spends on Florida's death row. A systematic random sample of 33 Florida death row inmates was drawn from the Florida Department of Corrections death row roster and the Florida Commission on Capital Cases inmate roster. Documented for each death row inmate was how long he spent on Florida's death row navigating the various stages and steps in Florida's post-conviction capital punishment process. The data show that petitions to the state trial courts and appeals to the Florida Supreme Court take the longest time in Florida's post-conviction capital punishment process. It also shows a considerable amount of "dead time," which refers to any additional time that an inmate spends on death row with no legal actions pending. A theory of "benign neglect" is proposed as the most likely explanation for the excessive delays.

No description available.

The epistemological framework, 'constructivism', posits the notion that we can only know our own construction of others and the world and not the objective truth about others and the world. Constructivism has been used in this study to describe the psychological experiences of death row inmates. The research design focused on the experiences of three prisoners currently serving their sentences at Pretoria's Maximum Prison. The use of narrative and its concomitant interpretation was used as a method of co-research as it was viewed to be coterminous with the idea of co-construction, where the experience between this co­ researcher and the prisoners could be linked up in a systemic, temporal and thematically consistent way. Despite the content of the material being subjective and nongeneralisable, it has been attuned to bring forth distinctions that are liable to be heuristic-- this generated an enticing novelty that stimulated this co-researcher. Readers are wished a similar outcome. / Psychology / M.A. (Clinical Psychology)

The epistemological framework, 'constructivism', posits the notion that we can only know our own construction of others and the world and not the objective truth about others and the world. Constructivism has been used in this study to describe the psychological experiences of death row inmates. The research design focused on the experiences of three prisoners currently serving their sentences at Pretoria's Maximum Prison. The use of narrative and its concomitant interpretation was used as a method of co-research as it was viewed to be coterminous with the idea of co-construction, where the experience between this co­ researcher and the prisoners could be linked up in a systemic, temporal and thematically consistent way. Despite the content of the material being subjective and nongeneralisable, it has been attuned to bring forth distinctions that are liable to be heuristic-- this generated an enticing novelty that stimulated this co-researcher. Readers are wished a similar outcome. / Psychology / M.A. (Clinical Psychology)

Condemned prisoners in Texas and most other states are given an opportunity to make a final statement in the last moments before death. An anecdotal review by the author of this study over the last 15 years indicates that condemned prisoners use the opportunity for a variety of purposes. They ask forgiveness, explain themselves, lash out at accusers, rail at the system, read poems, say goodbyes to friends and family, praise God, curse fate - and assert their innocence with their last breaths. The final words also are typically heard by a select group of witnesses, which may include a prisoner's family and friends, victim's relatives, and one or more journalists. What the public knows about a particular condemned person's statement largely depends on what the journalists who witness the executions chose to include in their accounts of executions, the accuracy of their notes, and the completeness of the statements that are recorded on departments of correction websites or records. This paper will examine, through rhetorical and content analyses, the final words of the 355 prisoners who were executed in Texas between 1976 and 2005, identify those who made unequivocal claims of innocence in their final statements, and analyze news coverage of their executions by the Associated Press.