The disciplinary records of 39 Indiana death row inmates who were transferred to the general prison population following modification of their sentence from death to capital life between 1972 and 1999 were retrospectively reviewed. Overall prevalence for the entire period of incarceration indicated that 14 inmates (35.9%) were involved in 24 violent acts. Twenty-six percent were involved in these violent acts while on death row and 20.5% in the general prison population. Fewer than one third of these violent acts resulted in serious injury. History of violence in the community did not differentiate inmates who exhibited serious institutional violence. The majority of these former death row inmates were not a significant management problem in the general prison population.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Akman, D. D. (1966). Homicides and assaults in Canadian penitentiaries. Canadian Journal of Corrections, 8, 284-299.
2.
Alexander, J. , & Austin, J. (1992). Handbook for evaluating objective prison classification systems. San Francisco: National Council on Crime and Delinquency.
3.
Bedau, H. A. (1964). Death sentences in New Jersey, 1907-1960. Rutgers Law Review, 19, 1-64.
4.
Bowers, W. J. , & Steiner, B. D. (1999). Death by default: An empirical demonstration of false and forced choices in capital sentencing. Texas Law Review, 77, 605-717.
5.
Carbonell, J. , Megargee, E., & Moorhead, K. (1984). Predicting prison adjustments with structured personality inventories. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 52, 280-294.
6.
Costanzo, M. , & Costanzo, S. (1992). Jury decision making in the capital penalty phase. Law and Human Behavior, 16, 185-201.
7.
Cunningham, M. D. , & Reidy, T. J. (1998a). Antisocial personality disorder and psychopathy: Diagnostic dilemmas in classifying patterns of antisocial behavior in sentencing evaluations. Behavioral Sciences & the Law, 16, 333-351.
8.
Cunningham, M. D. , & Reidy, T. J. (1998b). Integrating base rate data in violence risk assessments at capital sentencing. Behavioral Sciences & the Law, 16, 71-95.
9.
Cunningham, M. D. , & Reidy, T. J. (1999). Don't confuse me with the facts: Common errors in violence risk assessment at capital sentencing. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 26, 20-43.
10.
Dawes, R. M. , Faust, D., & Meehl, P. E. (1989). Clinical versus actuarial judgment. Science, 243, 1668-1674.
11.
Flanagan, T. J. (1980). Time served and institutional misconduct: Patterns of involvement in disciplinary infractions among long-term and short-term inmates. Journal of Criminal Justice, 8, 357-367.
12.
Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238 (1972).
13.
Geimer, W. , & Amsterdam, J. (1988). Why jurors vote life or death: Operative factors in ten Florida death cases. American Journal of Criminal Law, 15, 1-54.
14.
Hall, H. V. (1987). Violence prediction: Guidelines for the forensic practitioner. Springfield, IL: Charles C Thomas.
15.
Hare, R. D. (1991). The Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised. Toronto, Canada: Multi-Health Systems.
16.
Harer, M. D. (1992). Assaults on BOP staff and inmates-where and when they occur. Research Forum, 2, 1-19.
17.
Harer, M. D. , & Steffensmeier, D. J. (1996). Race and violence. Criminology, 34, 323-350.
18.
Harris, G. T. , Rice, M. E., & Quinsey, V. L. (1993). Violent recidivism of mentally disordered offenders: The development of a statistical prediction instrument. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 20, 315-335.
19.
Heilbrun, K. (1997). Prediction versus management models relevant to risk assessment: The importance of legal decision-making context. Law and Human Behavior, 21, 347-359.
20.
Johnson, R. (1979). Under sentence of death: The psychology of death row confinement. Law & Psychology Review, 5, 141-192.
21.
Kennedy, T. D. (1986). Trends in inmate classification: A status report of two computerized psychometric approaches. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 13, 165-184.
22.
Knox, G. W. , Tromanhauser, E. D., McCurrie, T. F., Laskey, J. A., Houston, J. G., Martin, J. D., & Robinson, C. (1996). Preliminary results of the 1995 adult corrections survey. Journal of Gang Research, 3, 27-63.
23.
Lewis, P. W. (1979). Killing the killers: A post-Furman profile of Florida's condemned. Crime & Delinquency, 25, 200-218.
24.
Lombardi, G. , Sluder, R. D., & Wallace, D. (1997). Mainstreaming death-sentenced inmates: The Missouri experience and its legal significance. Federal Probation, 61, 3-11.
25.
Luke, D. A. , & Homan, S. M. (1998). Time and change: Using survival analysis in clinical assessment and treatment evaluation. Psychological Assessment, 10(4), 360-378.
26.
Marquart, J. W. , Ekland-Olson, S., & Sorensen, J. R. (1989). Gazing into the crystal ball: Can jurors accurately predict dangerousness in capital cases?Law & Society Review, 23, 449-468.
27.
Marquart, J. W. , Ekland-Olson, S., & Sorensen, J. R. (1994). The rope, the chair, & the needle: Capital punishment in Texas, 1923-1990. Austin: University of Texas Press.
28.
Marquart, J. W. , & Sorensen, J. R. (1989). A national study of the Furman-commuted inmates: Assessing the threat to society from capital offenders. Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review, 23, 5-28.
29.
McPherson, S. B. (1996) Psychological aspects of mitigation in capital cases. Unpublished manuscript.
30.
Monahan, J. (1981). Predicting violent behavior: An assessment of clinical techniques. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
31.
Monahan, J. (1996). Violence prediction: The past twenty years. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 23, 107-120.
32.
Morris, N. , & Miller, M. (1985). Predictions of dangerousness. In M. Tonry & N. Morris (Eds.), Crime and justice: An annual review of research (pp. 1-50). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
33.
National Institute of Corrections, U.S. Department of Justice . (1992). Jail classification system development: A review of the literature, revised edition. Washington, DC: Author.
34.
Oregon Revised Statutes, Section 163.150 (1999).
35.
Quay, H. (1984). Managing adult inmates: Classification for housing and program assignments. Adult Internal Management System (AIMS) classification manual. College Park, MD: American Correctional Association.
36.
Serin, R. C. , & Amos, N. L. (1995). The role of psychopathy in the assessment of dangerousness. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 18, 231-238.
37.
Shah, S. (1978). Dangerousness: A paradigm for exploring some issues in law and psychology. American Psychologist, 33, 224-238.
38.
Sorensen, J. R. , & Pilgrim, R. (in press). An actuarial risk assessment of violence posed by capital murder defendants. Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology.
39.
Sorensen, J. R. , & Wrinkle, R. D. (1996). No hope for parole: Disciplinary infractions among death-sentenced and life-without-parole inmates. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 23, 542-552.
40.
Texas Code of Criminal Procedure. Article 37.071. Procedure in Capital Cases (1996).
41.
Van Voorhis, P. (1994). Psychological classification of the adult male prison inmate. New York: State University of New York Press.
42.
Webster, C. D. , Douglas, K. S., Eaves, D., & Hart, S. D. (1997). HCR-20. Assessing the risk of violence. Version 2. Vancouver, Canada: Simon Fraser University and Forensic Psychiatric Services Commission of British Columbia.
43.
Widiger, T. A. , & Corbitt, E. (1995). Antisocial personality disorder. In W. J. Livesley (Ed.), The DSM IV personality disorders (pp. 103-134). New York: Guilford Press.
44.
Woodson v. North Carolina, 428 U.S. 280 (1976).
45.
Yuzon, F. J. (1996). Conditions and circumstances of living on death row—violative of individual rights and fundamental freedoms? Divergent trends in judicial review in evaluating the “death row phenomenon.”George Washington Journal of International Law and Economics, 30, 39-73.
