NCJ Number
187259
Journal
Deviant Behavior Volume: 22 Issue: 1 Dated: January-February 2001 Pages: 43-71
Date Published
January 2001
Length
29 pages
Annotation
This article argues for the existence of an execution community.
Abstract
The article suggests that one way to interpret the relationship of the death row process to inmate execution is to examine those groups constituting the death row community. This community is composed of several related membership groups: the prisoner awaiting death, the inmate's family, the correctional personnel working the unit, and the victim and the victim's loved ones. In order to assess whether, and to what extent, a death row community exists, the article relies on several principles found in community psychology. By grafting a "sense of community" model onto the behavior of those groups, it demonstrates how the death row community phenomenon cohesively operates. The article also discusses the need for additional research in five major areas: (1) victimology, particularly with regard to family members and loved ones of death row inmates; (2) penology, to determine the psychological impact of capital punishment for the groups in the execution community; (3) criminology, to understand how prisons are organized and how their members behave; (4) psychology, to provide comprehensive intervention services; and (5) the law, to provide better data about the efficacy of capital punishment and the phenomenon of death row. Notes, table, references, cases cited