Apology and Remorse in the Last Statements of Death Row Prisoners

Abstract

The role of apology is beginning to receive attention from within the criminal justice system. Research suggests that both victims and offenders can benefit when the offender offers an apology and shows remorse. Less is known, however, about the frequency with which offenders apologize and the content of their apologies. In this study we conducted an exploratory analysis of remorse‐related content in the last statements of inmates on death row in Texas between December 7, 1982 and August 31, 2007. Almost one‐third of the offenders offered an apology, most of which were directed toward the victim’s family. In addition, these apologies were linked with other indications of remorse and sincerity, such as asking for forgiveness and showing empathy. Logistic regression analyses showed that apology was reliably predicted by these remorse‐related variables, but not by demographic variables or variables related to the crime itself. Implications and future research directions are discussed.

Keywords:

• apology
• death row
• forgiveness
• remorse
• restorative justice

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by a Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Standard Research Grant awarded to the first author. We would like to thank Ward Struthers, Sybil Geldart, Richard Tewksbury, and three anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on this manuscript.