The death row phenomenon is a term used to refer to the emotional distress felt by prisoners on death row. Concerns about the ethics of inflicting this distress upon prisoners have led to some legal concerns about the constitutionality of the death penalty in the United States and other countries. In relation to the use of solitary confinement with death row inmates, death row phenomenon and death row syndrome are two concepts that are gaining ground. The death row syndrome must be seen as a distinct concept, which refers to the enduring psychological effects of the death row phenomenon, which merely refers to the triggers of the syndrome.
Harrison and Tamony define death row phenomenon as the harmful effects of death row conditions, whilst death row syndrome is the consequent manifestation of psychological illness that can occur as a result of death row phenomenon.
Some authors have suggested that the most humane way to avoid such a syndrome is to execute criminals guilty of death-penalty crimes.
Read more about Death Row Phenomenon: The Phenomenon, Legal Ramifications, Examples in Fiction
Famous quotes containing the words death, row and/or phenomenon:
“There’s nothing wrong in suffering, if you suffer for a purpose. Our revolution didn’t abolish danger or death. It simply made danger and death worthwhile.”
—H.G. (Herbert George)
“Those who want to row on the ocean of human knowledge do not get far, and the storm drives those out of their course who set sail.”
—Franz Grillparzer (1791–1872)
“The defiance of established authority, religious and secular, social and political, as a world-wide phenomenon may well one day be accounted the outstanding event of the last decade.”
—Hannah Arendt (1906–1975)