Institutional failure in the life histories of men condemned to death.

cases of lethal violence that lead to a death sentence. Patterns of institutional failure among men sen tenced to death began to become apparent based on postconviction investigative work undertaken in Californiaby one of the authors (D.F.). The 16 cases reported here, an admittedlysmall sample of death row clients, camefrom a capital resource center. The selection of thissample was based on urgency, mean ing that clients closest to execution received investi gative assistance first. Although thisisnot a randomsampling process, there is no reason to believe that this selection process would have tended to overselect for institutional failure or psychiatric im pairment. Review of the trial recordssuggests that the character of the men and the circumstances of

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