Death Delayed is Retribution Denied
![handle is hein.journals/mnlr99 and id is 443 raw text is: Article
Death Delayed Is Retribution Denied
Russell L. Christophert
INTRODUCTION
In many of the top death penalty states, the leading cause
of death for prisoners on death row is not lethal injection. Nor
is it the electric chair. It is not even any form of execution. It is
death by natural and other causes.' From 1973-2011, in four of
the top five states with the largest death row populations in
2011, more death row prisoners died of old age than were exe-
cuted.2 In California during that period, for every one prisoner
executed, six died on death row of other causes.3 In Pennsylva-
nia during the same period, a death row prisoner was nine
times more likely to die from other causes than by execution.'
The ballooning number of prisoners spending decades on death
row who will die prior to execution stems from the combined ef-
t Professor of Law, The University of Tulsa. Thanks to Lyn Entzeroth,
Jeffrey Fagan, George Fletcher, Stephen Galoob, Ken Levy, Brent Newton,
Judge John T. Noonan, Jr., Peter Oh, Tamara Piety, and Eric Reynolds for
their helpful comments. I also thank participants in workshops of a previous
version of this Article at Columbia University School of Law, University of
Tulsa College of Law, and the Law and Society Conference. Copyright © 2014
by Russell L. Christopher.
1. See, e.g., DAVID GARLAND, PECULIAR INSTITUTION: AMERICA'S DEATH
PENALTY IN AN AGE OF ABOLITION 11 (2010) (citing natural causes as the
leading cause of death for convicted murderers on death row); Ernest van den
Haag, The Ultimate Punishment: A Defense, 99 HARV. L. REV. 1662, 1662
(1986) ([M]ost convicts sentenced to death are likely to die of old age.); David
Von Drehle, When Harry Met Scalia: Why the Death Penalty Is Dying, WASH.
POST, Mar. 6, 1994, at C3 (What should a man on death row fear most: elec-
trocution, gassing or lethal injection? Try: Old age.).
2. Aggregating the totals from California, Florida, Pennsylvania, and Al-
abama, 142 prisoners were executed and 206 died from other causes. See
TRACY L. SNELL, BUREAU OF JUSTICE STATISTICS, U.S. DEP'T OF JUSTICE, CAP-
ITAL PUNISHMENT, 2011 - STATISTICAL TABLES, NCJ242185, 18 tbl.15, 20
tbl.17 (2013) [hereinafter DOJ STATISTICS 2011]. The other state in the top
five is Texas. See id. at 18 tbl. 15.
3. See id. at 20 tbl.17.
4. See id.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/mnlr99&div=15&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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Death Delayed is Retribution Denied
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