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NCJRS Abstract

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NCJ Number:	186940

Title:	From Death to Life: Prison Behavior of Former Death Row Inmates in Indiana

Journal:	Criminal Justice and Behavior Volume:28 Issue:1 Dated:February 2001 Pages:62-82

Author(s):	Thomas J. Reidy; Mark D. Cunningham; Jon R. Sorensen

Date Published:	February 2001

Page Count:	21

Publisher:	http://www.sagepub.com

Type:	Report (Study/Research)

Format:	Article

Language:	English

Country:	United States of America

Annotation:	This study examines the prison behavior of former death row inmates after transfer to the general prison population.

Abstract:	The study retrospectively reviewed 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. Fourteen inmates (35.9 percent) were involved in 24 violent acts over the entire period of their incarceration. Twenty-six percent were involved in those violent acts while on death row and 20.5 percent in the general prison population. Fewer than one third of the violent acts resulted in serious injury. History of violence in the community did not differentiate inmates who exhibited serious institutional violence. In conclusion, despite the heinous nature of their capital offenses, the majority of Indiana former death row inmates did not commit acts of serious violence on death row or in the general prison population, and most presented little persistent disciplinary management difficulty in the general prison population. The article concludes that the consistency of these findings with prior research on other death row samples demonstrates that the associated base rates are robust and can be generalized to other capital defendants for violence risk assessment purposes. Tables, figure, notes, references

Main Term(s):	Corrections

Index Term(s):	Capital punishment; Dangerousness; Death row inmates; Indiana; Inmate misconduct; Prison climate; Prison management; Violent inmates; Violent offenders



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