Executing the Mentally Impaired

Executing the Mentally Impaired John Coffee (Michael Clarke Duncan) awaits execution in The Green Mile Last week attention was called to the topic of intellectual disabilities (ID) and the death penalty when a Georgia court granted a last minute stay of execution for a man with an I.Q. of 70 (the widely-accepted threshold for ID). The courts intervention was a relief for many, and a surprise to those familiar with criminal law in Georgia and elsewhere. Since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Atkins v. Virginia eleven years ago, states have been reluctant to set up legal tests which would classify inmates as intellectually disabled, leading to a system which clearly favors execution over mental care or rehabilitation. In Georgia, a defendant must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he is in fact mentally handicapped. This ensures that judges and juries will be very hesitant to rule in favor of an ID claim and most will be sent to death row. This has been the fate of numerous ID claimants in Texas where the legal standard required to pass as mentally handicapped (or mentally retarded, as the outdated legal text still reads) is so strict that almost anyone with a pulse and an operational nervous system is eligible for lethal injection. The Texas courts test for intellectual disability is based on seven Briseño Factors, named after the case which established the precedent. A Google search of the term reveals a large collection of stories about unjust sentences to be handed down to our most helpless citizens. To be considered intellectually disabled under the Briseño Factors, a defendant must prove to a jury that he or she lacks proper functioning in all seven areas covered by the test. These factors were created by judges instead of doctors, they are not scientifically based, and they include things such as the ability to plan a faculty observed in many zoo animals as well as nearly every human who ever lived. In addition to standards that could be met by an animal, the Briseño Factors also provide that courts should disregard an ID claim if friends or family members of the defendant do not believe he or she is mentally disabled. Regardless of feelings on the morality of the death penalty, surely there are few people who would suggest that systematically executing mentally handicapped prisoners is acceptable. Affronts to human rights such as this happen around the world every day, but should not be common news in a nation that prides itself on fairness and justice. Just as tyrannical governments in past centuries have sought to quietly eliminate undesirable populations, states governments right here at home are executing people who by all civilized standards should be safely confined from the general population and properly treated. The execution of mentally handicapped people is a disgrace to our society and a slap in the face to human rights. The only way to tackle the issue is by making yourself and others more aware of what happens to these poor unfortunate men and women. Stories of prisoners with intellectual disabilities facing the death penalty: http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/category/categories/issues/mental-retardation http://www.thenation.com/blog/169243/updated-texas-executes-man-iq-61 http://www.theeagle.com/news/local/article_8a7ef928-9fe2-515d-9e44-ee6a700606a1.html