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NAMI/MVFHR Gathering in San Antonio

By Kristin Houle

This column by Dr. María Félix-Ortiz appeared in the San Antonio Express-News on September 10, 2008.Capital punishment of the mentally ill focus of meetingThis new millennium has seen substantial review of capital punishment.In 2002, in Atkins vs. Virginia, the Supreme Court wrote that the intellectually disabled can be competent, ?but, by definition, they have diminished capacities to understand and process information, to communicate, to abstract from mistakes and learn from experience, to engage in logical reasoning, to control impulses, and to understand others' reactions. Their deficiencies do not warrant an exemption from criminal sanctions, but diminish their personal culpability.?This overturned a 13-year-old decision that had allowed execution of the mentally ill...continue to full post

Full post as published by Prevention Not Punishment on September 15, 2008 (boomark / email).