Honor on Death Row

The Southern United States is described as having a culture of honor, an argument that has been used to explain higher crime rates in the Southern United States than in the rest of the country. This research explored whether the combination of honor-related violence and traditional southern politene...

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Main Author: Judy Eaton
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SAGE Publishing 2014-04-01
Series:SAGE Open
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244014529777
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spelling doaj-536512c21e67479fbd11ba62684b36022020-11-25T03:39:23ZengSAGE PublishingSAGE Open2158-24402014-04-01410.1177/215824401452977710.1177_2158244014529777Honor on Death RowJudy Eaton0Wilfrid Laurier University, Brantford, Ontario, CanadaThe Southern United States is described as having a culture of honor, an argument that has been used to explain higher crime rates in the Southern United States than in the rest of the country. This research explored whether the combination of honor-related violence and traditional southern politeness norms is related to regional differences in the degree of remorse expressed by those who have committed violent crimes. It was proposed that different social norms regarding politeness and apologies in the Southern United States would be reflected in the narratives provided by offenders. The data came from the final statements that offenders on death row made before they were executed. Results showed that, compared with offenders executed in the non-Southern United States, offenders executed in the South more often apologized for their crimes in their final statements, but they were not necessarily more remorseful.https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244014529777
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Judy Eaton
spellingShingle Judy Eaton
Honor on Death Row
SAGE Open
author_facet Judy Eaton
author_sort Judy Eaton
title Honor on Death Row
title_short Honor on Death Row
title_full Honor on Death Row
title_fullStr Honor on Death Row
title_full_unstemmed Honor on Death Row
title_sort honor on death row
publisher SAGE Publishing
series SAGE Open
issn 2158-2440
publishDate 2014-04-01
description The Southern United States is described as having a culture of honor, an argument that has been used to explain higher crime rates in the Southern United States than in the rest of the country. This research explored whether the combination of honor-related violence and traditional southern politeness norms is related to regional differences in the degree of remorse expressed by those who have committed violent crimes. It was proposed that different social norms regarding politeness and apologies in the Southern United States would be reflected in the narratives provided by offenders. The data came from the final statements that offenders on death row made before they were executed. Results showed that, compared with offenders executed in the non-Southern United States, offenders executed in the South more often apologized for their crimes in their final statements, but they were not necessarily more remorseful.
url https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244014529777
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