 Earlier, however, in 1950, a justice of the United States Supreme Court in "Solesbee v. Balkcom" remarked that the onset of insanity while awaiting execution of a death sentence is not a rare phenomenon.Often the death row phenomenon, being a result of a prolonged stay on death row, is an unintentional result of the long procedures used in the attempt to ensure the death penalty is applied only to the guilty., arguments about the death row phenomenon have never been successful in avoiding the death penalty for any person in the US, but the US Supreme Court has been aware of the theory and has mentioned it in its decisions.