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Answering the hard questions: Mental illness

By Tennessee Coalition to Abolish State Killing

"Over the past thirty years, the number of people with mental illness and other mental disabilities on death row has steadily increased." -Mental Health AmericaInternational law clearly outlaws the execution of persons with mental illness. Virtually every country in the world prohibits the execution of those who are considered "insane." However, our legal understanding of mental illness has not kept pace with our medical knowledge. Thus, to be deemed "mentally competent" to face execution, a person is only required to know that he/she is going to be executed and why.In Ford v Wainwright (1986), the U.S. Supreme Court determined that "inflicting the death penalty upon a prisoner who is insane" violates the U.S. Constitution. However, it is estimated that 5-10% of death row inmates suffer from serious mental illness (Mental Health America's "Position Statement 54: Death Penalty and People with Mental Illness")...continue to full post

Full post as published by tcask:: on the road (to abolition) on June 01, 2009 (boomark / email).