precursors of lethal violence: a death row sample

Precursors of lethal violence: a death row sample

David Freedmana, David Hemenwayb,*aFreedman Investigations, 3620 26th Street #3, San Francisco, CA 94110, USA

bHarvard Injury Control Research Center, Harvard School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA

Abstract

A qualitative methodology based on the standards of criminal defense investigation was used to analyze the socialand family histories of 16 men sentenced to death in California. Using a multisource cross-validation methodology,

we assessed patterns of impairment, injury and de®cit at each of four ecological levels: family, individual,community and social institutions. Investigation documented consistent and pervasive patterns of seriousimpairment, injury and de®cit across the cases and levels. The men share numerous risk factors and few resiliency

factors associated with violence. We found family violence in all 16 cases, including severe physical and/or sexualabuse in 14 cases; individual impairments in 16, including 14 with post-traumatic stress disorder, 13 with severedepression and 12 with histories of traumatic brain injury; community isolation and violence in 12; and institutionalfailure in 15, including 13 cases of severe physical and/or sexual abuse while in foster care or under state youth

authority jurisdiction. Appropriate interventions might have made a di�erence in reducing lethal violence and itsprecursor conditions. 7 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Violence; Risk factors; Qualitative methods; Ecological assessment; Death penalty

Introduction

It is 23 years since the resumption of executions in

the United States (Gregg v. Georgia, 428 US 153,1976), but little research has focused on death rowinmates. Multi-generational social and family histories

have long been recognized as an essential part of pro-viding a competent defense in capital cases (Goodpa-ster, 1983; Costanzo and Peterson, 1994; Haney, 1995;

Johnson et al., 1997; Garvey, 1998). The social his-tories compiled in the course of death penalty trialsand post-conviction appeals o�er a unique source of

detailed and reliable information about these people

sentenced to death. In this article, evidence contained

in the social histories is used to analyze precursors to

lethal violence.

Research concerning the death row population is

limited. There have been a number of anecdotal

accounts of the lives of people on death row (e.g. Jack-

son and Christian, 1980; Miller and Miller, 1989;

Dicks, 1990; Prejean, 1993; Gilmore, 1994; Tucker,

1997) and a few studies about the neuro-psychiatric

functioning of murderers (e.g. Yarvis, 1990; Nestor,

1992; Tiihonen, 1993; Malmquist, 1995; Raine et al.,

1997a,b) and men sentenced to death (Feldman et al.,

1986; Lewis et al., 1986; Heilbrun, 1990; Blake et al.,

1995; Frierson et al., 1998). However, none of these

has examined the individual within a social and com-

munity context.

Social Science & Medicine 50 (2000) 1757±1770

0277-9536/00/$ - see front matter 7 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

PII: S0277-9536(99 )00417-7

www.elsevier.com/locate/socscimed

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +1-617-432-4493; fax: +1-

617-432-4494.

E-mail addresses: [email protected] (D. Freed-

man), [email protected] (D. Hemenway).

Method

Procedure

An adaptation of the ecological-transactional ana-lytic model Ð which situates the individual within thefamily, community and social environment, and incor-

porates reciprocal in¯uences across those levels Ð wasused as the analytic framework (Lewin, 1951; Parkeand Collmer, 1975; Bronfenbrenner, 1977, 1979; Gar-barino, 1977; Belsky, 1980; Cicchetti and Rizley, 1981;

Felner and Felner, 1989; Vondra, 1990; Cicchetti andLynch, 1993). The issue of reciprocity across levelsexamines whether experiences within one realm in¯u-

ences or a�ects behaviors or experiences in another.This model has been found to be useful in pointing tosocial structures in which violence is perpetrated, and

in targeting interventions appropriately (Felner andFelner, 1989; Webber, 1997; Edari and McManus,1998).At each of the four ecological levels adapted from

Bronfenbrenner's model (family, individual, commu-nity and institutional), we assessed the presence andstrength of evidence for numerous impairments, inju-

ries and de®cits, using the qualitative methodology ofmultisource cross-validation of all the informationgathered. In every case, the information about experi-

ences with family violence, individual impairments,community isolation and violence, and institutionalfailure were cross-validated through multiple, indepen-

dent sources of information.We subdivided each of the four ecological levels. A

positive indicator at the ecological level (see Table 1),

was based on a positive indicator for any of the subca-

tegories. Positive indicators were found in multiple

subcategories of ecological level in every case, such

that no positive report at the ecological level relies

solely on one subcategory.

The research is based on 16 cases of men sentenced

to death in California. Sample selection derived from

the ®rst author's work as a private investigator on

these cases. As an investigator at a resource center that

provided assistance to legal counsel appointed to death

row inmates in post-conviction appeals, the author

(DF) worked on cases from a pool that included every-

one sentenced to death in California. Work on cases

was assigned based on an assessment of the urgency of

the status of each case, generally meaning which defen-

dant was closest to, or most at risk for, execution.

Post-conviction investigations rely on generally

accepted investigative standards and proceed according

to a generally accepted model. That model is based on

extensive, unstructured and open-ended interviewing

techniques designed to elicit detailed information and

detailed histories about the defendant, the defendant's

family and the communities and institutions in which

the defendant lived. Interviews, although unstructured

and open-ended, are focused to obtain case-speci®c evi-

dence.

Since the histories were taken for legal purposes, re-

liability in reporting was crucial and all information

was corroborated by multiple external sources. Corro-

borating interviews and documentation were obtained

in all cases. Corroborating witnesses included family

Table 1

Factors by ecological levela

Client Family violence Individual impairment Community isolation Institutional failure

A W W ± WB W W W W

C W W W W

D W W W W

E W W W WF W W W W

G W W W W

H W W W W

I W W ± WJ W W W W

K W W W W

L W W ± WM W W ± W

N W W W W

O W W W ±

P W W W WTotals 16 16 12 15

aW is a positive indicator and ± no evidence.

D. Freedman, D. Hemenway / Social Science & Medicine 50 (2000) 1757±17701758

members, friends, ex-lovers, neighbors, teachers, co-workers, former crime partners, cell-mates from prior

incarcerations, prior attorneys, doctors, social workers,probation o�cers, police o�cers and victims of priorcrimes. Corroborating documentation (such as court

records, police interviews, school records, medical andpsychological records, employment records, birth anddeath records, military records, social service agency

records and other social history records) was obtainedin all cases. Uncorroborated data were excluded.All information included here has been presented in

court and is part of the public record of the relevantcourt proceeding.

Description of sample

In July 1998, there were 501 men on California'sdeath row; 43% were White, 36% Black, 15% Mexi-can-American and 4% other races (California Depart-ment of Corrections, 1998). In this sample of 16, 56%

of the sample were White, 25% Black and 19% Mexi-can-American. Men in this sample were born between1945 and 1962. The homicides for which they are on

death row and their trials occurred between 1977 and1987, the ®rst 10 years following the reintroduction ofthe death penalty in California. Two of the men have

been executed, four have had their sentences reversedon appeal and one died on death row while his appealwas pending. The rest have appeals pending review infederal court. To present these data, an alphabetical

letter has been assigned to represent each man.

Results

Overall, the patterns that emerge from data are seenacross each of the four levels. Family violence is docu-

mented in 16 cases, individual impairments in 16, com-munity isolation and violence in 12 and institutionalfailure in 15 cases (Table 1). Discussed more speci®-

cally below are the patterns related to known risk andresiliency factors documented in these cases.

Family violence

In 14 cases, there were multigenerational family his-

tories of physical abuse, 14 had multigenerationalfamily histories of polysubstance abuse and 12 hadmultigenerational histories of mental illness or impair-

ment. Described below are the family environments inwhich these men were raised, focusing on family perpe-trated sexual and physical abuse, targeting for abuse,

witnessing abuse and polysubstance abuse (Table 2).Risk factor research focused at the family level has

received extensive attention in criminology and soci-

ology (e.g. Healy and Bronner, 1936; Glueck andGlueck, 1950; Duncan et al., 1958; McCord et al.,

1959; Wolfgang et al., 1962; Hirschi, 1969, 1983;Sampson and Laub, 1993; Crespi and Rigazio-DiGilio,1996). Families shape the immediate environment in

which the child develops.

Physical and sexual abuseFourteen men were severely physically abused as

children by a family member; three were beaten uncon-

scious. Three men were sexually abused by familymembers as children and four were subject to sexua-lized physical abuse. Child sexual and physical abuse

has short- and long-term behavioral, emotional anddevelopmental consequences (Browne and Finkelhor,1986; Harrison et al., 1990; Hunter, 1992; Wurtele andMiller-Perrin, 1992; Dembo et al., 1993; Widom, 1993;

Dhaliwal et al., 1996; Goodwin and Sachs, 1996).Physical abuse used in these analyses was chronic,

included the use of ®sts or weapons, and left physical

indicators, usually welts or bruises. The abuse formedthe fundamental part of the family dynamic. Weaponsincluded whips, belts and belt buckles, steel tipped

boots, baseball bats, extension cords, switches cutfrom trees, tying or binding, gags, sticks, frying pans,coat hangers, broomsticks, wrenches, hammers, knives

and guns. Physical indications of abuse included corro-borated reports of being knocked unconscious, bruis-ing, welts and broken bones.Mr. F's mother devised a ``special'' weapon for beat-

ings. This was a whip constructed out of thick, roundsewing machine belts, cut into strips at the end. All ofthe children in this family provided precise descriptions

of this weapon and the fear associated with it. Mr. Fwas awoken from sleep to be beaten, often with noidea why. Mr. F was beaten until he was bloody and

bruised or lost consciousness. Often his motherstripped him naked and tied his feet to his handsbefore beating him with a whip. Mr. F's siblings were

encouraged by his mother to join in the taunting andhumiliation parts of this abuse. Sometimes Mr. F'sfather watched the beatings, on other occasions he par-ticipated.

This abuse was not an isolated incident in Mr. F'slife. Beatings were a routine part of the familydynamic. The type of abuse described was nearly a

daily occurrence. For 14 of these men, extensive physi-cal abuse constituted the familial climate.Mr. K's brother described their situation:

My mother was very violent and unpredictable.None of us ever knew in advance when she wasgoing to go o� or what sort of mood she would be

in when we got home from school. She just wento� sometimes, which could be at any time, for anyreason or no reason at all. Sometimes it could be

D. Freedman, D. Hemenway / Social Science & Medicine 50 (2000) 1757±1770 1759

one hit with a baseball bat or 20 hits. We never

knew which and had to be prepared for anything.

My mother beat us with pans or pots, ironing

cords, willow branches, ®sts, boots and threw us

into walls and onto the ¯oor. Whatever was nearest

to her when she started to hit on us was what she

used.

Mr. K's brother also explained the bene®t he

received from contracting polio:

The polio put me in the hospital for months and in

a wheelchair permanently since then. Many people

might view such an event as a tragedy. For me,

contracting polio was like getting reborn . . . The

misfortune of having polio became my fortune. It

allowed me to gain some self-worth and self-esteem

for the ®rst time . . . polio was a new lease on life.

In each of the 14 cases of chronic physical abuse,

there is also evidence of the behavioral sequelae associ-

ated with it: de®cits in self-control, impulse control

and insight, de®cits in the development of social judge-

ment, hypersensitivity to perceived insult and threat,

impairments in social competence and self-esteem and

hypervigilance, distrust and withdrawal (Widom, 1989;

Terr, 1991; Dutton and Hart, 1992; Herman, 1992a;

Malinosky-Rummell and Hansen, 1993; Smith and

Thornberry, 1995; van der Kolk et al., 1996).

Emotional abuse also occurred in these families but

is excluded from this analysis (despite serious psycho-

logical consequences) because no observable injuryresulted. Incidents such as Mr. P's father threatening

to shoot Mr. P to death (and the cleaning and loadingof his guns in front of Mr. P) are not included here.

Targeting within abusive families

Within the group of 14 abusive families, nine boyswere targeted for more severe abuse compared toothers in the household who were also abused (Kempeet al., 1962; Brandwein, 1974; Sangrund et al., 1974;

Sars®eld, 1974; Diamond and Jaudes, 1983). Eightwere primarily targeted because they su�ered frommental illness or impairment and two of those were

also singled out because their fathers suspected theywere illegitimate.For instance, Mr. D was targeted for abuse because

both parents believed he was mentally retarded and hisfather believed he was illegitimate. Family membersagree that the abuse perpetrated against Mr. D was

signi®cantly more severe in duration and violence ascompared to his siblings.

Witnessing family violenceExposure to violence is documented in 15 cases. In

most cases, the primary exposure to violence was wit-nessing intimate partner and sibling abuse. Exposureto violence, even when not being targeted for violence,has been shown to have signi®cant developmental con-

sequences on children and their risk for future beha-vioral problems (e.g. Burgess et al., 1987; Widom,1989).

Table 2

Exposure to violencea

Client Physical abuse in childhood Sexual abuse in childhood Witnessed violence

A ± ± ±

B WW ± WC WW WW W

D WW ± W

E WW ± W

F WW ± WG WW WW W

H WW ± W

I WW WW W

J WW WW WK WW ± W

L WW WW W

M ± ± WN WW ± W

O WW W W

P WW ± W

Totals 14 6 15

a For sexual and physical abuse: WW means chronic trauma or multiple traumas, W single trauma, ± no evidence of trauma. For

witnessing violence: W witnessed violence, ± no evidence.


Fifteen men witnessed intimate partner violence andsibling abuse, including all 14 who were abused them-

selves. In Mr. K's case, the children watched as, at theend of a particularly violent ®ght between theirparents, their mother followed their father outside the

house, got into the car and attempted to crush himagainst a tree with the vehicle. Mr. L witnessed hisstep-mother being beaten repeatedly over many years,

including injuries that led to hospitalizations. Mr. Fwitnessed his step-father drive his mother's headthrough the kitchen walls so many times that the

family stopped trying to cover over the holes. Mr. Falso witnessed the beating of his aunt after she hid himwhen he ran away from a beating.

Parental substance abuse

Fourteen men had multigenerational family historiesof polysubstance abuse. Three men su�ered from fetalalcohol syndrome or fetal alcohol e�ect. The develop-

mental e�ects of fetal alcohol exposure and its re-lationship to behavioral problems have been welldocumented (Jones et al., 1974; Streissguth, 1977;

Streissguth et al., 1985, 1991, 1996). Individuals mayalso develop a predisposition to substance abuse as aresult of a parental abuse and addiction (Cotton, 1979;Goodwin, 1979; Fleming et al., 1982; Patton, 1995).

Mr. P's mother began drinking daily in her earlyteens. She reported drinking beer and whisky through-out her pregnancy with Mr. P, consuming up to eight

drinks each day. Mr. P bears the physiological andpsychological markers of Ð and has been diagnosedwith Ð fetal alcohol e�ect.

Individual impairment

All 16 men have substantial impairments, including:

(a) post-traumatic stress disorder, (b) traumatic braininjury, (c) brain impairment (d) depression, (e) poly-substance abuse and (f) psychosis (Table 3).

Many factors contribute to violent behaviors includ-ing homicide, and the ``causal processes may varyqualitatively between similar-appearing aggressive''

people (Richters, 1996; see also: Lewis et al., 1986).There is strong evidence of a relationship betweenserious mental illnesses and violence, and brain impair-ment and violence (e.g. Langevin et al., 1987; Hodgins,

1992; Pontius, 1993; Mulvey, 1994; Tiihonen andHakola, 1994; Torrey, 1994; Blake et al., 1995; Riceand Harris, 1995; Raine et al., 1996; Krakowski and

Czobor, 1997; Skodol, 1998). Men sentenced to deathare reported to have signi®cant patterns of neurologi-cal, psychiatric and psychoeducational de®cits (Feld-

man et al., 1986; Lewis et al., 1986), and that wascertainly true in our sample. This is not to say thatmost mentally ill people are killers, but rather that asigni®cantly higher proportion of people who kill have

serious mental illnesses and/or brain impairments.

Post-traumatic stress disorder

Fourteen men were diagnosed with post-traumaticstress disorder (PTSD). The traumas that resulted inthis diagnosis were all life-threatening. In addition, re-

petitive (chronic) trauma de®nes these men's experi-ences. The physical battering was coupled withextended periods of anticipatory fear and terror. The

Table 3

Mental illness and impairmenta

Client PTSD Traumatic brain injury Brain impairment Severe depression Polysubstance abuse Psychosis

A ± W W W W WB ± W W W W ±

C W W W W W

D W W W W W W

E W WW ± W W WF W WW W W W ±

G W ± W W W W

H W ± W W W W

I W WW W W W WJ W WW ± W ±

K W WW ± W W ±

L W WW W W W ±

M W ± ± ± W W

N W ± W ± W ±

O W W ± W W

P W WW W ± W ±

Totals 14 12 11 13 13 9

a Psychotic diagnoses are lifetime. WW is multiple traumas, W positive indicator and ± no evidence.


coping strategies developed in response to this type oftrauma include massive denial, repression, dissociation,

self-anesthesia, self-hypnosis, social avoidance, hyper-vigilance, hyper-arousal, hyper-excitability, loss ofstimulus discrimination, identi®cation with the aggres-

sor and anger directed both outward and inward (Terr,1991; Herman, 1992b; Pynoos, 1994; Goodwin andSachs, 1996; van der Kolk et al., 1996).

Traumatic brain injury

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) was documented in 12cases. For 7 of the 12, there were multiple, indepen-dent traumatic head injuries, which caused loss of con-

sciousness, severe headaches, blackouts and corollarysequelae such as mood changes and heightened impul-sivity dating from the injury. TBI is associated with anincreased risk for behavioral problems and psychiatric

disorders, as well as increased risk of drug and alcoholabuse (Pincus and Tucker, 1985; Diaz, 1995; VanReekum et al., 1996; Williams, 1997; Bryant and Har-

vey, 1998). In some cases, there were many instancesof injury. Mr. I su�ered cerebral palsy from birth com-plications. At age eight, he su�ered loss of conscious-

ness from a head injury. At age nine, he wasdiagnosed with mild mental retardation. At 16, he washit by a car, which again caused severe head trauma.

Brain impairment

Eleven men had brain impairment, based on a ®nd-ing of mental retardation, functional mental retar-dation or borderline mental retardation usingneuropsychiatric and neurological testing. Neuropsy-

chiatric assessment is widely regarded as a reliable andvalid measurement of brain function (Boll, 1985;Matarazzo, 1991; Barth et al., 1992; Tranel, 1992;

Lezak, 1995). Similarly, 12 men have been diagnosedas cognitively and/or developmentally impaired.

DepressionThirteen men were marked by severe depression,

often re¯ected by self-harm. Mr. J made more than 25serious suicide gestures between the ages of 13 and 35.Other markers for severe depression such as self-muti-lation, inactivity over an extended period of time, ¯at

or inappropriate a�ect and social withdrawal, aredocumented in many of these cases.

Polysubstance abuseThirteen men were polysubstance abusers, with drug

and alcohol use associated with a self-medicating e�ortfollowing abuse, post-traumatic stress or depression ineach case. The substances include every type and quan-

tity of substance available, legal and illegal. In somecases, family members with care-giving responsibilitiesintroduced the individual to the substance. For others,

their introduction to substance abuse came from oldersiblings or older children at school.

PsychosisFinally, nine men su�ered from psychosis with hallu-

cinations. Mr. C was diagnosed as ``chronically psy-

chotic'' and ``borderline schizophrenic'' at varioustimes in his life. At age 23, Mr. F was hospitalized forpsychotic delusions. Mr. D was noted to decompensate

to psychosis under stress. Mr. L was diagnosed withschizoa�ective disorder. For Mr. M, extended polysub-stance abuse resulted in hallucinations, paranoia andpsychosis.

Community isolation and violence

Community isolation was observed in 12 cases.Community isolation exists when families and individ-

uals are isolated from community institutions and themechanisms of informal social control, when they per-ceive their communities to be hostile or dangerous,

and when they doubt that the community will act toassist and protect them (Young, 1964; Elmer, 1967;Parke and Collmer, 1975; Garbarino, 1977, 1982; Gar-

barino and Gilliam, 1980). In a community survey,Garbarino and Sherman (1980) found that where therewas higher reported satisfaction with the neighborhoodthere were lower than expected rates of child abuse.

They suggested that perception of the neighborhoodwas an important factor in child maltreatment.

Physical and sexual abuse

Family abuse patterns were a main cause of commu-nity isolation. Isolation is used by abusers to maintaincontrol over the family and to keep non-family mem-bers from seeing the signs of abuse. Families in which

systematic abuse is perpetrated are widely recognizedto enforce isolation from other family members as wellas from the community (Garbarino et al., 1986; Her-

man, 1992a).Mr. J was locked in his room to keep him from

playing with other children, including his siblings. The

windows were nailed shut from the outside and hadbars over them. The door to his room was lockedfrom the outside. Mr. J had to beg to be let out to usethe toilet and was often denied. He was systematically

isolated from every person other than his abusers. Hisparental abusers used a variety of public humiliationsto isolate Mr. J from other neighborhood children,

including forcing him to sit on the front steps of hishouse in his underwear with a feces encrusted diaperon his head. His parental abusers isolated Mr. J from

his siblings by forcing them to physically abuse him.He was not permitted to see doctors or follow-up onpsychiatric referrals suggested by teachers.


Abusive parents also maintained control over thechild by refusing to allow members of the family to go

out. Mr. C was not permitted to get a job deliveringnewspapers because his father did not want him out ofthe house. Mr. N was speci®cally not permitted out

because of fear that his bruises and welts would benoticed.

Sexual assault perpetrated by acquaintances or neigh-bors. Rape and sexual abuse, prior to the age of 18,were present in six cases. Five of the six men were

raped and/or molested by di�erent perpetrators onmultiple occasions. For two, the ®rst perpetrator was aneighbor, for three it was a family member and forone it was a stranger. For four out of these six, the

next incident of rape was at school or while incarcer-ated. In all six cases, the men were later convicted ofhomicides which had a sexual component. Childhood

sexual abuse is associated with depression, inappropri-ate a�ect, substance abuse and early onset of substanceabuse (Harrison et al., 1990; Dembo et al., 1993; Dha-

liwal et al., 1996). Current research also suggests acumulative impact from repeated trauma, and anincreased likelihood for revictimization (Follette et al.,

1996).

Parental behaviorIn three cases, the family was ostracized as a result

of criminal or bizarre behaviors. Mr. K's family wasnotorious in their town for multigenerational criminal

activity (both parents used their children to engage incriminal activity). The parents explained to the chil-dren that it was for their own good that they were not

allowed out and not allowed to bring friends to thehouse. Mr. K's isolation extended to cousins andnephews who lived in the same area.

Racism

Two men faced isolation as a result of race. Forexample, Mr. F's family moved into an overwhel-mingly White neighborhood just prior to the Watts

riots in Los Angeles. The family was ostracized andisolated. Mr. F's mother did not allow her children toplay outside, even in the front yard, for fear that theywould be attacked by Whites in the community.

At the age of 12 and again a few years later, Mr. Nwas the victim of a racially motivated beating. Mr. Nwas walking along the street when a gang of White

teenagers and men drove up in two cars and a pick-uptruck. The men dragged him into one of the cars andproceeded to beat him as they drove around. Such

beatings have psychological consequences and theyalso restrict the parts of town in which a person canwalk or look for a job.

Exposure to community violenceResearch shows that violence in a community often

results in increased isolation as community memberstakes steps to enhance their safety. Children who wit-ness community violence may experience social adjust-

ment and behavior problems similar to children whoare abused (Ja�e et al., 1986; Groves et al., 1993; Mar-tinez and Richters, 1993; Osofsky et al., 1993; Richters

and Martinez, 1993; Eth and Pynoos, 1994; Friday,1995; Garbarino and Kostelny, 1997; Kilpatrick et al.,1997). Mr. N lost 12 close friends and family members

to murder in a span of eight years. Seventeen ad-ditional people were wounded in these killings, whichwere often carried out in drive-by shooting.

Participation in war. In two cases, exposure to violenceresulted from war. Mr. M and Mr. I were combatveterans of the Vietnam war. Both witnessed killings.

A soldier who slept in a cot near Mr. M reported thatthey awoke one morning in Vietnam:

Two tents down from where I was sleeping, two of

the men in the tent were killed in the middle of thenight. Someone got into the tent and killed themwithout being seen or heard. This was done to scare

us so we would not be able to sleep at night. Itworked pretty well . . . .

Witnessing violence has signi®cant consequences:

intrusive thoughts, sleep disorders, depression, anxietyand nervousness, avoidance and withdrawal and cogni-tive, emotional and behavioral alterations (Martinez

and Richters, 1993; Eth and Pynoos, 1994).

Institutional failure

In 15 cases, the overwhelming evidence points to

substantial institutional failure to both recognize andremediate need. The institutions are judged to havefailed independent of what subsequently happened to

the individual. The social institutions analyzed include(a) schools, (b) juvenile detention facilities, prisons andfoster homes, (c) medical and psychiatric facilities and

(d) structural barriers to equal opportunity (Table 4).A social institution should be able to identify those

people to whom it is charged with providing services.For instance, if a person went into a police station and

reported that he had just committed a crime, the policeshould recognize that dealing with this person fellwithin their socially de®ned role. Social institutions

should also provide adequate and competent services(Christensen et al., 1986; Abbott, 1991; Cohen et al.,1993; Specter, 1994; Haney, 1995; Freudenburg and

Youn, 1997).The analysis of institutional failure draws a distinc-

tion between individuals who work within institutions


Table

4

Institutionalfailure

a

Client

Youth

authority

orprisonphysicalabuse

Foster

care

physicalorsexualabuse

Illiteracy

Socialpromotion(excludes

specialeducation)

Substance

abuse

(�in

school)

AW

±±

WW

BW

±±

WW�

CW

W±

±±

DW

W±

WW

EW

±±

±W�

FW

±W

WW

GW

W±

WW�

H±

±W

±W�

I±

±W

±W

JW

W±

W±

KW

±W

WW

LW

±±

WW

MW

W±

WW

NW

WW

±W�

O±

±±

±±

PW

±W

±W�

Totals

13

66

913(�6)

aW

isapositiveindicator,

±noevidence.


and the institutions themselves. For instance, Mr. N'sschool records indicate that ``[Mr. N] is working with

the Learning Disabilities teacher. She states that [he] istoo far behind for the materials she has.'' The teacherwho does not have adequate materials is not incompe-

tent, rather the institution failed to acquire necessarymaterials. The measure of institutional failure used inthese analyses excludes failures that were a mixture of

individual and institutional competence, and onlyincludes failures of institutions.

SchoolsThe most pervasive institutional failure occurred in

schools. Nine men were promoted to the next gradedespite failing. Six were illiterate, having eitherdropped out of school or been passed on from grade

to grade despite being illiterate. Four of those whowere illiterate were placed in special education classeswhich did not remediate their illiteracy. Three of the

®ve men placed in special education were subsequentlyre-enrolled in standard classes, against the recommen-dation of their special education teachers. For instance,Mr. P was moved out of special education classes for

Junior High School, even though his teachers informedschool o�cials that this was inappropriate.Evidence from neuropsychiatric testing indicates that

10 of the 11 men not placed in special education suf-fered from severe learning disabilities, signi®cant braindysfunction and/or functional mental retardation as

children.Mr. M's teacher believed that Mr. M was in need of

a psychiatric referral for counseling, but no such refer-

rals were available through the school (this teacherwould years later become a school psychologist). Mr.M carried a gun to school one day and asked the tea-cher to hold it for him. The teacher viewed this as a

cry for help from a boy who was attempting to escapefrom an abusive home life. The school principaldecided to call the police and despite the teacher's

opinion, no mental health referral was made. Mr. Mwas arrested and taken into juvenile custody. The tea-cher recognized the need for intervention, but

explained that the institution made it impossible tointervene appropriately.Schools are expected to respond when teachers or

administrators recognize child abuse, when children

come to school using drugs or alcohol or whenobvious medical conditions are present. The evidencedocuments that 14 of these men were chronically

abused while attending school and that six regularlyattended school under the in¯uence of drugs and/oralcohol. Mr. H indicated that he started using drugs

because of feelings of humiliation associated withbeing illiterate, and Mr. B was widely recognized to be`hu�ng' glue, yet there is no indication in these or any

cases that teachers or administrators attempted tointervene.

Prisons, detention facilities and foster homesExcluding schools, the institutions with which these

men had the most contact were prisons, juvenile deten-tion facilities and foster homes. These institutions aredesignated to provide services when an individual'ssituation is no longer tenable, either because of en-

vironment or behavioral factors. In 12 cases, these in-stitutions failed to recognize and address problemsthat fell within their purview.

For example, Mr. G was incarcerated in an adultfacility at the age of 18. Upon his arrival, he was`bought' by an older and much bigger inmate. Mr. G

was sexually enslaved by this inmate, and raped andphysically abused by his `owner' for more than a year.Any time that Mr. G sought refuge or escape, theinmate threatened to `sell' him to one of the gangs in

the prison. Prison sta� were well aware of the situ-ation. The inmate who `bought' Mr. G was notoriousat the facility for similar behavior with other inmates.

Yet, at no time during Mr. G's incarceration at thisfacility did anyone attempt to intervene. In fact, prisono�cials report that during this time period, they had

conceded regions within the prison to the inmates andrelied on those inmates to control activities withinthose areas of the facility.

Sexual and physical abuse. Six men were physically orsexually abused by foster families. In addition, threemen were sexually abused as adolescents while in the

care of a juvenile facility. Physical and sexual violencewas rampant within juvenile facilities. For example,Mr. J was sexually molested by older boys at a juvenile

detention facility. One of the sta� o�ered him protec-tion from the sexual assaults, but in return Mr. J wasrequired to sleep with and submit to sex with this

counselor over an extended period of time. In additionto Mr. J, Mr. C and Mr. G were also sexuallyassaulted while in juvenile facilities and Mr. F wit-nessed the rape of another juvenile in detention.

Medical and psychiatric facilitiesMedical and psychiatric institutions failed to ade-

quately address mental illness and substance abuse

problems in 10 cases. Mr. A underwent a lobectomy,was medicated with anti-seizure drugs, but was o�eredno rehabilitation services. His wife, who had no medi-

cal training, had to retrain Mr. A in such basic dailyfunctions as tying his shoes, eating and showering, aswell as in much more di�cult functions such as basic

language skills. After reporting feeling out of controland requesting therapy, Mr. A was only givenincreased medication. Concerned that his behavior was


becoming uncontrollable, for three years he requestedmental health assistance unsuccessfully.

Psychiatric sta� recommended services for Mr. P,but the facility had no open bed spaces and he receivedno treatment. Mr. C received inpatient psychiatric

treatment as a juvenile at a state run adult mental hos-pital. The hospital returned Mr. C to juvenile courtstating that he had received all the treatment the hospi-

tal could provide. They recommended placement in along-term residential facility. After waiting for sixweeks in juvenile detention for a psychiatric evalu-

ation, Mr. C was returned to his physically and sexu-ally abusive family.

Polysubstance abuse and treatment. Twelve of the men

had documented histories of polysubstance abuse.None was successfully treated although some wereincarcerated speci®cally as a result of substance-abuse-

related crimes. The police attempted to get Mr. Nplaced in a substance abuse program rather than sentto jail, but he was rejected from the programs in the

area because he had a criminal history. He received notreatment.

Institutional barriers to equal opportunityTen of the men were denied equal opportunity as a

result of institutional barriers due to class or race. In-stitutional barriers are a more narrowly de®ned set offactors than institutional failure. For instance, denying

a person a job on the basis of the person's race is aninstitutional barrier to equality of opportunity, andhas a direct, material impact. These are institutional

barriers because the level at which these barriers existis not personal but structural and institutional. Dis-crimination is acted out against individuals, but existsas a result of bias against a class of people (Diaz-Guer-

rero and Peck, 1962; Knowles and Prewitt, 1969;Jones, 1974; Pettigrew, 1975; Morales, 1978; Alvarezand Lutterman, 1979; Barbarin et al., 1981; Maddock

and Durcan, 1984; Wilson, 1987; Harrell and Peterson,1992; Shihadeh and Flynn, 1996).

Class. For nine men, social and economic class createdan institutional barrier. Inability to pay for medicalcare over an extended number of years was present in®ve of the cases. For example, a school nurse rec-

ommended a medical examination for Mr. N as aresult of an illness related to malnutrition, but thefamily could not a�ord to pay for it and no such

examination was done.As a result of economic status and concomitant liv-

ing conditions, four men were exposed to extraordi-

nary levels of environmental neurotoxins, two as aresult of farm labor and two as a result of urban con-tamination. For example, Mr. O was routinely sprayed

with pesticides by crop-dusters while working withoutprotective clothing as a child and experienced the

behavioral and neurological sequelae of pesticide ex-posure. The toxins included organochlorines, organo-phosphates, carbamates, solvents and metals such as

lead. In all four cases, such exposure was a signi®cantcomponent in the etiology of the individual's braindysfunction.

Race. Race created an institutional barrier for fourmen. Mr. L and Mr. O were raised in segregated

towns with restricted access to jobs and schooling. Mr.P also faced race-based discrimination in housing andschooling. Mr. P's school made a concerted e�ort topush African-Americans into vocational education; nu-

merous members of Mr. P's school cohort report thatschool o�cials informed them that African-Americanscould not attend college.

Discussion and conclusions

This article uses an adaptation of the ecological-

transactional model as an analytic framework (Bron-fenbrenner, 1977; Belsky, 1980; Cicchetti and Lynch,1993) to examine the social histories of 16 men on

death row. Substantial de®cits were found for most ofthe men across all four levels of the model: experienceswith family violence, individual impairments, commu-

nity isolation and violence, and institutional failure.The commonality of the patterns of de®cits across thefour levels of the ecological model suggests that such

accumulation is important to an understanding oflethal violence. Further, these data point to placeswhere community and social institutions might havebeen e�ective on behalf of these men, but failed.

We also examined the reciprocal in¯uences acrossthe ecological levels, ®nding that many factors,although occurring within one level, ripple across the

other levels. For instance, Mr. K, whose severe physi-cal abuse is described (family level), was kept awayfrom neighbors and friends in an e�ort to hide evi-

dence of the beatings (community level) and experi-enced di�culty in school both as a result of missingschool and of cognitive impairments due to traumatichead injuries (individual level).

Research (Garmezy, 1993; McFarlane and Yehuda,1996; Jenkins and Bell, 1997) suggests that resiliency inchildren may require the presence of protective factors,

including: (1) the ability to modify stressors by, amongother factors, cognitive ability, (2) family warmth andcohesion and (3) external support (institutional, com-

munity or parental substitute). The men in our samplehave substantial de®cits in each of these protective fac-tors. Raine et al. (1997a,b) indicate that the interactive


and multiplicative e�ects of risk factors may produce

signi®cantly heightened risk.Lethal violence is a complex problem that does not

arise from a single causal agent, and is not likely to be

reduced by a single intervention strategy. The analyticmodel used to assess lethal violence is important.

While prevailing criminal justice models of violencepostulate free choice as an explanatory model andemphasize punishment, the ecological framework

suggests that individuals act within a complex socialcontext, predicated in part on the resources and limi-tations they bring into that context. Where free choice

o�ers few if any possible points for prevention, theecological framework points to multiple places where

intervention may be e�ective.Our study suggests that policies focused on pro-

active interventions to prevent the precursors of lethal

violence deserve further study. These data make appar-ent places at which policy changes in our approach tolethal violence might signi®cantly reduce injury,

suggesting that intervention strategies could reducelethal violence and its precursors. Further, it suggests

that death sentences follow upon a constellation of fac-tors which might be ripe for intervention. These datasuggest that both the underlying murder that resulted

in a death sentence, and the execution itself, may beavoided by intervention and prevention strategies.

Hemenway (1998) claims that the decline in auto-mobile fatalities in the United States over the past 50years has been achieved more by altering the driving

environment than by deterring bad driving. In a simi-lar manner, lethal violence prevention may require amultifaceted approach that seeks interventions at each

of the ecological levels rather than focusing mainly onpunishing the individual.

This research has limitations. First, there are generallimitations to case-study research (Yin, 1994), and inthis study the number of cases studied is small. The

small size increases the likelihood of undetected samplebias. More signi®cantly, the lack of control groups(e.g. non-death sentenced murderers) limits the general-

izations which can be made. Control groups mighthave allowed us to address additional issues, such as

the degree to which the experiences of death rowinmates are di�erent from other violent o�enders, orthe general population.

A major virtue of our methodology was that wewere able to cross-validate all the information

included. In every case, the information came from in-depth interviews with multiple subjects; then the datawere corroborated by extensive record reviews and

independent expert assessment and evaluation. Someother studies have examined one or the other of theimpairments identi®ed here (e.g. psychiatric illness)

and used matched controls to compare prevalencerates. These studies have not used cross-validation

methods, and were forced to rely on the accuracy ofthe subject. Our study does not have that self-reporting

problem. Our qualitative research approach providessound and unique information not usually obtainable.As a result of the investigative practices of corrobor-

ating through multiple external sources, this evidenceprovides coherent and substantiated documentation ofcrucial factors that precede lethal violence. All of the

men in this study experienced a remarkable constella-tion of pre-disposing factors for lethal violence. Insti-tutions which could have intervened did not. Indeed,

the institutions were often a source of the problem.The patterns of risk factors associated with lethal vio-lence observed here tend to support multifaceted andbroadly conceived e�orts directed toward numerous

levels. More study is needed to determine whetherinterventions at one stage or by one or two institutionscan be e�ective at preventing lethal violence, and

whether murderers sent to death row are similar tothose sentenced to life imprisonment.

Acknowledgements

We wish to thank James C. Beck, Angela Browne,Wendy C. Peoples and James S. Thomson, for com-ments on earlier drafts of this work. DH is supported in

part by the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control.

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