ABSTRACT
This chapter provides some of the much needed information concerning the nature of the offenders who are convicted of capital crimes. Most of the data to be reported are drawn from the files kept by the Massachusetts Council for the Abolition of the Death Penalty and the American League to Abolish Capital Punishment, both active in this field since 1927. The chapter illustrates some of the facts, particularly those bearing on the conduct of life-term prisoners, on the opinions of those most closely acquainted with abolition of the death penalty, and on the sentencing and execution of innocent and mentally ill persons. In order to illustrate the general situation involving the postconviction conduct of life-term prisoners, it is useful to look at the data available from Massachusetts. Before the Massachusetts Legislature's hearing in 1961, an inquiry was made concerning the conduct of prisoners at Walpole Correctional Institution whose death sentences have been commuted to life.
