Mental Illness and the Death Penalty
Description of Mental Retardation
Resources (including ABA Resolution)
Articles and Texts on Mental Illness
Sentence Reversals in Mental Retardation Cases
News and Developments - Current Year
News and Developments - Previous Years
2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 - 2002
DESCRIPTION OF MENTAL ILLNESS
"Any of various conditions characterized by impairment of an individual's normal cognitive, emotional, or behavioral functioning, and caused by social, psychological, biochemical, genetic, or other factors, such as infection or head trauma. Also called emotional illness, mental disease, mental disorder." (Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition © 2000) Some of the more common illnesses experienced by inmates on death row may include:
Bipolar Disorder
Borderline Personality Disorder
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
Schizoaffective Disorder
Schizophrenia
Suicide
DESCRIPTION OF MENTAL RETARDATION
Mental retardation is defined differently than mental illness. Retardation is indicated by "[s]ubnormal intellectual development as a result of congenital causes, brain injury, or disease and characterized by any of various cognitive deficiencies, including impaired learning, social, and vocational ability. Also called mental deficiency." (Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition © 2000). The Supreme Court ruled that the execution of those with mental retardation is unconstitutional. Go to DPIC's page on Mental Retardation.
MENTAL ILLNESS RESOURCES
American Bar Association Resolution 122A and accompanying article on exempting those with severe mental illness from the death penalty, August 8, 2006. An almost identical resolution has been endorsed by the American Psychiatric Association, the American Psychological Association, and the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill.
Amnesty International USA: The Death Penalty and Mental Illness
"Ill-Equipped: U. S. Prisons and Offenders With Mental Illness," Human Right's Watch Report, September 2003
"The Execution of Mentally Ill Offenders," Amnesty International Report, January 31, 2006.
National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI)
NAMI's Report, "Shattered Lives"
National Mental Health Association
DPIC's Web page: Time on Death Row
ARTICLES AND BOOKS ON MENTAL ILLNESS
Michael Radelet and Kent Miller, "Executing the Mentally Ill," available from Sage Publications (1993).
Laura Mansnerus, "Damaged Brains and the Death Penalty," (New York Times, July 21, 2001).
Pete Earley, "A State of Outrage" On Earley's son and his troubles with the law (Washington Post, September 24, 2002)
Kevin Drew, "Executed Mentally Ill Inmate Heard Voices Until End," (CNN, January 7, 2003). Article following the execution of Charles Singleton in Arkansas.
Kathy Swedlow, "Forced Medication of Legally Incompetent Prisoners: A Primer" (Human Rights Magazine, Spring 2003)
Dana Parsons, "Untreated Mental Illness Can Be Criminal" - Article covering a defendant's capital case (Los Angeles Times, November 3, 2003).
John H. Blume and Sheri Lynn Johnson, "KILLING THE NON-WILLING: ATKINS, THE VOLITIONALLY INCAPACITATED, AND THE DEATH PENALTY," 55 South Carolina Law Review 93 (2003).
Margaret Spinelli, M.D., "Maternal Infanticide Associated With mental Illness: Prevention and the Promise of Saved Lives" (American Journal of Psychiatry Digest, September 2004).
Dan Malone, "Cruel and Inhumane: Executing the Mentally Ill," (Amnesty International Magazine, Fall 2005).
Papers from a symposium on Mental Illness and the Death Penalty at the Catholic University Law School by Ronald Tabak, Prof. Christopher Slobogin, Ronald S. Honberg, Prof. Richard Bonnie , and Richard Dieter, 54 Catholic University Law Review 1113 (2005).
Symposium Issue: Mental Health and the Criminal Justice System, from the ABA Criminal Justice Magazine, Fall 2007, Volume 22, Number 3
Christopher Seeds, THE AFTERLIFE OF FORD AND PANETTI: EXECUTION COMPETENCE AND THE CAPACITY TO ASSIST COUNSEL, Saint Louis University Law Journal, Winter 2009
Mental Health and Criminal Justice: An Overview
By Andrew E. Taslitz
Prof. Taslitz, special issue editor, introduces the magazine’s symposium topic on mental illness and the justice system, including highlights of each article.
The Supreme Court’s Recent Criminal Mental Health Cases Rulings of Questionable Competence
By Christopher Slobogin
For decades the subject of mental illness and criminal law languished in the legal “backwaters” at the U.S. Supreme Court. That changed in 2003 when the Court accepted the case of Sell v. United States (a defendant’s right to refuse medication), followed quickly by two more seminal decisions in Clark v. Arizona (2006) (the scope of psychiatric defenses) and Panetti v. Quarterman (2007) (the definition of competency to be executed). But has this sudden interest in mental illness issues resulted in good law? The author argues to the contrary and details where and how the Court has erred.
Prosecutor as “Nurse Ratched”?: Misusing Criminal Justice as Alternative Medicine
By Gerald E. Nora
Traditionally, prosecutors approach claims of mental impairment by criminal defendants with skepticism, contesting competency defenses and sentencing mitigation. More recently, though, they find themselves as “diversionary gatekeepers”— seeking alternatives to trials and prison for those who more aptly belong in the medical arena. The author, a Cook County ( Illinois) state’s attorney, finds neither role satisfactory and argues for reforms that will limit a prosecutor’s responsibility for addressing a defendant’s mental health needs through the justice system.
The Promise of Mental Health Courts: Brooklyn Criminal Justice System Experiments with Treatment as an Alternative to Prison
By Matthew J. D’Emic
Judge D’Emic tracks the establishment of one of the country’s first courts to use diversionary treatment in dealing with mentally ill criminal defendants. He maps the defendant’s journey from intake through assessment and treatment to “graduation” from the program.
Executing the Mentally Ill: When Is Someone Sane Enough to Die?
By Michael Mello
An opponent of the death penalty, Prof. Mello presents this personal account of advocating for mentally ill death row inmates. While detailing his clients’ descent into madness and the tortured disconnect between the fantasy world of the insane and a justice system bent on accountability, the author looks at the impact of three high-profile cases.
Mental Health Status and Vulnerability to Police Interrogation Tactics
By William C. Follette, Deborah Davis, and Richard A. Leo
The authors offers a psychological explanation of how police interrogation methods affect the “average” person’s ability to understand and exert his or her Miranda rights and what makes the mentally ill so much more susceptible to police coercion and likely to falsely confess.
IMPORTANT AND RECENT CASES
Ford v. Wainwright, 477 US 399 (1986) - Banned the execution of the insane.
Guy LeGrande, a mentally man who was scheduled to be executed in North Carolina, was issued a stay of his Dec. 1, 2006 execution date.
Percy Walton's scheduled execution in June 2006 in Virginia was stayed by Gov. Tim Kaine because of concerns about Walton's mental illness. In Dec. 2006, Gov. Kaine concluded that Walton was mentally incompetent and that it would be uncconstitutional to execute him as long as this mental status continues. See Clemency News 2006.
Kelsey Patterson was executed on May 18, 2004 in Texas despite a 5-1 recommendation by the Parole Board for Clemency
Amnesty International Press Release Summarizing Patterson's Case
In-Depth Amnesty International Article on Kelsey Patterson
Austin American-Statesman Editorial on Patterson and Mentally Ill Defendants
Scott Panetti was scheduled to be executed on February 5, 2004 in Texas, but he was granted a 60-day stay on February 4, 2004.
UPDATE: The Supreme Court ruled (5-4) on June 28, 2007, that Panetti deserves a rehearing on his claim of mental incompetence. The Court said the Fifth Circuit had used an overly restrictive definition of what constitutes insanity. The Court also said that the Texas state court failed to provide Panetti with the kind of review guaranteed under the Constitution for claims of mental incompetence.
UPDATE: On January 5, 2007 the Supreme Court granted certiorari in his case.
Amnesty International's report on Scott Panetti: "Where is the Compassion?"
Executing the Insane: The Case of Scott Panetti - a video by Off Center Media and the Texas Defender Service
Raymond Wood, whose appeal is being considered by the Western Missouri Court of Appeals
Case Summary from LarryRobison.org
Charles Singleton, executed on January 6, 2004 in Arkansas
Singleton v. Norris (No. 00-1492) (8th Circuit Decision). Singleton was forcibly medicated to make him sane enough for execution.
Recent CNN Article on Singleton
"Condemned Prisoner Treated and Executed," by Alan A. Stone, MD; from Psychiatric Times, March 2004.
James Colburn, executed on March 26, 2003 in Texas
Amnesty International Report, executed on March 26, 2003 in Texas
Larry Robison, executed on January 21, 2000 in Texas
Amnesty International Report on Robison
LarryRobison.org, which covers mental illness and the death penalty; maintained by Robison's brother
American Bar Association Resolution 122A
The American Bar Association passed Resolution 122A, exempting those with severe mental illness from the death penalty, on August 8, 2006. An almost identical resolution has been endorsed by the American Psychiatric Association, the American Psychological Association, and the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill.