Mentally Ill Executions
Mentally Ill Executions
"An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth" is the philosophy many people use when it comes to the punishment of criminals. The death penalty has been debated for many years as it has come into and then fallen out of favor for the American public. Today the death penalty by lethal injection has been put on hold on a couple of states. The legality of the "cruel and unusual punishment" is being heatedly debated. The death penalty is especially volatile when it comes to the mentally ill. When a mentally ill person commits a crime worthy of the death penalty the state and those involved with the case often face a moral and ethical dilemma. If the person is not capable of understanding why they are being executed or what the death penalty means to them, there is a legal, ethical and moral question about the fairness of that execution. The states ' answer has been to medicate the mentally ill prisoner with anti-psychotic drugs so that they become capable of mentally understanding why they are going to be executed. "There is virtually no psychiatric diagnosis that always renders a defendant incompetent or unable to be held responsible for his or her acts (Reid, 1998)." The question then becomes how humane is it to bring them out of their mental illness, get them well enough and then kill them when they are able to finally understand what is happening to them? It is the courts responsibility that the defendant is capable of helping his own defense and that he fully understands his charges and his sentence.
Forcing death row inmates to take medication to be sane enough to execute, is a legal, moral and ethical debate that will continue for a long time. "In 1986, the United States Supreme Court decided Ford v. Wainwright, holding that the execution of the mentally incompetent violates the Eighth Amendment prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. A prisoner cannot be executed unless sufficiently competent to understand the
"An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth" is the philosophy many people use when it comes to the punishment of criminals. The death penalty has been debated for many years as it has come into and then fallen out of favor for the American public. Today the death penalty by lethal injection has been put on hold on a couple of states. The legality of the "cruel and unusual punishment" is being heatedly debated. The death penalty is especially volatile when it comes to the mentally ill. When a mentally ill person commits a crime worthy of the death penalty the state and those involved with the case often face a moral and ethical dilemma. If the person is not capable of understanding why they are being executed or what the death penalty means to them, there is a legal, ethical and moral question about the fairness of that execution. The states ' answer has been to medicate the mentally ill prisoner with anti-psychotic drugs so that they become capable of mentally understanding why they are going to be executed. "There is virtually no psychiatric diagnosis that always renders a defendant incompetent or unable to be held responsible for his or her acts (Reid, 1998)." The question then becomes how humane is it to bring them out of their mental illness, get them well enough and then kill them when they are able to finally understand what is happening to them? It is the courts responsibility that the defendant is capable of helping his own defense and that he fully understands his charges and his sentence.
Forcing death row inmates to take medication to be sane enough to execute, is a legal, moral and ethical debate that will continue for a long time. "In 1986, the United States Supreme Court decided Ford v. Wainwright, holding that the execution of the mentally incompetent violates the Eighth Amendment prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. A prisoner cannot be executed unless sufficiently competent to understand the
References: Stapp, Katherine (11/7/2003). RIGHTS-U.S.: DEATH PENALTY FOR MENTALLY ILL CALLED A RIGHTS ABUSE Moritz, John (8/16/1999). Killer 's case stirs debate about death penalty for the mentally Ill Redding, Richard, Hensl, Kursten (6/20/2003). Do no harm: should we medicate to execute? Reid, William H. MD, MPH (November 1998). Law and Psychiatry, Evaluating Criminal Defendants: Responsibility and Competence to Stand Trial American Psychological Association. (1994). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (4th ed.). Singleton v. Norris, No. 00-1492, 319 F. 3d 1018 (U.S. App. 2003). Stone, A.A. (March, 2004). Condemned prisoner treated and executed. Psychiatric Times, 21, 1-4. Riggins v. Nevada No. 90-8466, 504 U.S. 127 (1992). Ford v. Wainwright, 477 U.S. 399, 419 (1986) (Powell, J., concurring).