Texas Study Challenges 'Violent Behavior' Predictions
When Dallas prosecutors urged a jury to sentence Randall Dale Adams to death for the 1976 murder of a police officer, they presented "expert testimony" from a psychiatrist who said there was no doubt Adams would commit future violent acts, even in prison.
A life sentence would be inadequate for Adams -- a veteran with no prior record -- because he was an "extreme sociopath," Dr. James Grigson testified. "There is nothing known in the world today that is going to change this man."
After a dozen years in prison, Adams was freed when another man confessed to the murder. He has had a clean record ever since.
Now Adams, 55, is Exhibit A in a study to be released today that found experts witnesses' predictions of violent behavior were wrong 95% of the time.
The study by the Texas Defender Service, a nonprofit organization that represents individuals in capital murder cases, was based on the records of 155 inmates obtained from Texas state corrections officials.
Eight of the 155 convicted killers, the study found, later engaged in behavior that resulted in serious injury. And 20% of the inmates had no disciplinary violations while in prison; the remaining 75% had "minor disciplinary infractions," such as possessing lottery tickets, food in their cells or too many sheets.
Of the 155 inmates studied, 67 have been executed, 40 are currently on death row and the remaining 48 later had their death sentences reduced or thrown out, Adams among them.
None of the 155 killed again while in prison.
"This is a very solid and thoughtful piece of empirical research," said John Monahan, a University of Virginia law school professor who specializes in risk assessment.
The study included every Texas case identified as having had state-sponsored testimony on future dangerousness, Monahan said, and was the first large-scale examination of prison violence among death row inmates.
Texas, which leads the nation in executions, is one of only two states where predictions of future violence are a key factor in determining whether a convicted murderer is sentenced to death. Such testimony is barred in 29 of the 38 states that have the death penalty, including California.
Shannon Edmonds, an official with the Texas County and District Attorneys Assn., said he had not had time to review the study. But he added that, as a rule, his organization took reports by the Texas Defender Service "with a grain of salt," because "they are advocates" for ending the death penalty.
