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Muzzling Death Row Inmates: Applying The First Amendment To Regulations That Restrict A Condemned Prisoner's Last Words, Kevin F. O'Neill

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

This Article asserts that the privilege to deliver a last dying speech— uttered in the presence of, and made audible to, the assembled witnesses in the moments just before one's execution—is a First Amendment right, and that prison policies departing from its traditional exercise are unconstitutional. After canvassing the state prison policies that govern last words, this Article will recount the long historical tradition surrounding their utterance—a history that reveals the extraordinary degree to which Anglo-American governments have honored the privilege.Next, this Article will draw a parallel between the right to utter one's last words and the well-established right of …