Death Row Confessions and the Last Meal Test of Innocence

[cronus]

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20 ... 125838.htm

Death Row Confessions and the Last Meal Test of Innocence

Jan. 23, 2014 — Can last meals reveal more about individuals on death row than their taste preference? Some have argued there is significance embedded in death row last meal decisions. Famously, Ricky Ray Rector asked to save his untouched pecan pie for after his execution. This request sparked significant discussion about Rector's competency -- on the basis of his food request.

Similarly, in a documentary film about last suppers, artists Bigert and Bergstrom have claimed a connection between whether or not an individual chooses to have a last meal and his or her guilt. In each case, there is an assertion that last meals are relevant to the legitimacy of an execution. It is these signals that Cornell University researcher Kevin Kniffin examined in this self-funded study. In particular, he studied whether an individual who has accepted guilt -- by apologizing or confessing -- is more likely to indulge in a last meal. He also looked at how their meals differ from those who maintain that they are innocent.

Kniffin hypothesized that those who perceived themselves as innocent would request fewer calories or decline to receive a last meal altogether. After analyzing the last meals of 247 people who were executed in the United States between 2002 and 2006, Kniffin found the hypothesis to be accurate. Those who denied guilt were 2.7 times more likely to decline a last meal than those who admitted guilt. Furthermore those who were admittedly guilty requested 34% more calories of food and were more likely to request brand name, comfort-food items.

(continued)

[pErvinalia]

It would be easier to just stop executing people.

[cronus]

It would be easier to just stop executing people.

It's only fair to not allow a last meal in the interim.

[Rum]

There's a thread somewhere about whether Merica is civilized They ain't in my book until they stop this state sponsored slaughter.

[JacksSmirkingRevenge]

I'll have a bowl of Hundreds and Thousands and a fork, please.

[Hermit]

Can last meals reveal more about individuals on death row than their taste preference?

Stupid question. Of course they can. Take the last supper of the best known of the thousands of mad gurus of all time. The following illustration of that man at his last meal before being executed reveals the following: 1. He was a wanker. 2. He was left-handed. 3. He will come again. 4. His next coming will be quite soon. Notice the trepidation with which the other guests anticipate this?

[Bella Fortuna]

I'll have a bowl of Hundreds and Thousands and a fork, please.

[Clinton Huxley]

I'll have a piece of spaghetti 16000 miles long.

[JacksSmirkingRevenge]

[Mysturji]

A slow-roasted blue whale, please. Well done.

[Clinton Huxley]

One of those Chinese thousand year eggs, freshly prepared.