Department of Psychiatry, Trinity College Dublin, Trinity Centre for Health Sciences, Tallaght Hospital, Dublin 24 D24 NR0A, Ireland.
Metro South Addiction and Mental Health Service, Rehabilitation Academic Clinical Unit, 228 Logan Road, Woolloongabba, Queensland, Australia.
QJM. 2018 Jan 1;111(1):3-6. doi: 10.1093/qjmed/hcx227.
Worldwide, over 1000 people were executed in 2016 and over 3000 sentenced to death. Death row prisoners have high rates of mental illness, often combined with neurological impairment. Prolonged confinement has further negative effects on psychological function. There is a growing literature examining key themes and psychological constructs in death row prisoners immediately prior to execution. To date, this literature centres largely but not exclusively on last statements from death row in Texas, owing to ease of availability. The most common themes in last statements are love, spirituality and apology or regret. The most common psychological constructs are 'identification-egression' (e.g. attachment to a lost person or ideal, such as freedom), unbearable psychological pain and rejection-aggression. This is still a relatively new area of research and new techniques, such as computerised quantitative text analysis, are likely to complement rather than replace more traditional forms of thematic and textual analysis. For the future, it is essential that studies in this field continue to specify precisely, which last statements they use, so that overlap can be identified, and that more countries are studied (if possible). It would also be useful to expand the research frame to relate the content of last statements to additional variables relating to prisoners' offences, physical health, mental health, family structure and broader circumstances. Finally, ethical issues require continued consideration in this complex, fascinating, growing field.
全球范围内，2016 年有超过 1000 人被处决，超过 3000 人被判处死刑。死囚中有很高比例的人患有精神疾病，常常伴有神经损伤。长期监禁对心理功能有进一步的负面影响。目前有越来越多的文献研究死刑犯在被处决前的关键主题和心理结构。迄今为止，由于易于获取，这些文献主要集中在德克萨斯州死刑犯的最后陈述上，但并不完全如此。最后陈述中最常见的主题是爱、精神和道歉或悔恨。最常见的心理结构是“认同-退行”（例如对失去的人或理想的依恋，如自由）、无法承受的心理痛苦和拒绝-攻击。这仍然是一个相对较新的研究领域，新的技术，如计算机化的定量文本分析，可能会补充而不是取代更传统的主题和文本分析形式。未来，在这一领域的研究中，必须明确规定使用哪些最后陈述，以便识别重叠部分，并研究更多的国家（如果可能的话）。将研究框架扩展到将最后陈述的内容与囚犯的犯罪、身体健康、心理健康、家庭结构和更广泛的情况相关的其他变量联系起来，也将是有用的。最后，在这个复杂、迷人、不断发展的领域，伦理问题需要继续考虑。
