In capital punishment, failure is a feature

By: Dale Brumfield

Outlets: Virginia Mercury

Published: October 12, 2026

Words: 1,147

Last Updated: 6 days, 1 hour ago

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In his 1975 book, “Systemantics,” John Gall hypothesizes that complex systems tend to fail, and not because of bad intentions, incompetent operators, or a few correctable defects. Organizations and other human-made systems develop unanticipated behaviors that often thwart their intended purposes. As we begin to recognize these tendencies toward failure, we assume that a new, more complex system will solve the problem.

Nowhere is this theory truer than in the U.S. capital punishment …

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