The extant literature on the death row process and its relationship to inma
te execution is limited. One way to interpret the association is to examine
those groups constituting the death row community. In this study, we argue
for the existence of an execution community composed of several related me
mbership groups: the prisoner awaiting death, the inmate's family, the corr
ectional personnel working the unit, and the victim and the victim's loved
ones. In order to assess whether, and to what extent, a death row community
in fact exists, we rely on several principles found in community psycholog
y. By grafting a "sense of community" model onto the behavior of those memb
ership groups identified, we demonstrate how the death row community phenom
enon cohesively operates. We conclude by tentatively exploring the implicat
ions of our analysis for purposes of future research on the execution exper
ience and life on death row.