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Death penalty has been a long-contested issue among States, legislators, policy makers, and individuals alike. So complicated is the issue that no two opinions appear to be the same. Indeed, the divergence of the various opinions extend to a variety of concerns within the death penalty and the Constitution themselves, including the fairness of capital punishment and decisions relating to it in terms of gender, class, race, and so on. One of the most prominent issues within the death penalty is probably mental illness and retardation. As pointed out by one of the authors to be examined below, the law prohibits imposing the death penalty for persons who are mentally incompetent. The question is, however, how many mentally incompetent persons in fact declare their incompetence?
The case Atkins v. Virginia involves Daryl Renard Atkins, who was accused of abduction, armed robbery, and capital murder. After it was revealed that he had a full IQ of 59, the Virginia Supreme Court ordered a second sentencing hearing after the first, which sentence him to death. After testimony...
The rest of the section considers the Constitution and the Eighth Amendment, which prohibits "cruel and unusual punishment." Based on this, the general opinion today is that it is "cruel and unusual" to use the death penalty against a mentally retarded person.
Tobolowsky's Chapter 9 focuses the discussion of the death penalty in terms of both mental illness and mental retardation. These conditions have been addressed by the Supreme Court as a result of their effect on culpability and the ability of individuals to take responsibility for their actions. The author starts by distinguishing terms such as "mental illness," which is a broad term referring to a number of specific disorders such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorders, and anxiety. Mental retardation, on the other hand, is more specifically focused on an individual's ability or lack thereof to function on a normal cognitive…
Capital Punishment The issue of the death penalty and capital crime has become one of the dominant issues debated in contemporary culture. The reason for this is firstly a moral questioning of the right to take a life, even when it is in retribution for extreme crimes like murder. The foundation of this contemporary attitude lie in the view that modern culture and society should be able to deal with extreme
All arguments against the death penalty appear doubly applicable to women so convicted; those already victimized by their circumstances and relationships are further victimized by a justice system that is supposed to help them, while the guilty are allowed to continue with their crimes, freed by the skill of high-priced lawyers. According to Dreyfuss (2003), women convicted of murder specifically face issues such as prosecutors who ignore mitigating circumstances, self-defence,
" This article puts forward the notion that when analyzing the "...relationships between minority groups and mainstream populations," the issue of whether the use of "formal control is applied fairly and consistently between these different groups" is a pivotal place to begin (Ruddell, et al., 2004). It is pivotal because "injustice" not only can have "a corrosive effect" on the perception of the fairness (or unfairness) of the criminal justice system;
Costs associated with Supermax Prisons Most of the Supermaxes in the United States are brand new or nearly so. Others are simply free-standing prisons that were retrofitted. "According to a study by the Urban Institute, the per-cell cost of a Supermax is about $75,000 annually, compared to $25,000 for each cell in an ordinary state prison" (Ross, 2006). The supermax models emerged out of the prison violence of the 1970's and
3.0 Conclusion After exploring both sides of the death penalty argument, it's important to remember that neither side supports executions based on racial or financial bias. And, all want to see the defendant having competent defense and receiving the correct verdict. These issues are related to the application of the death penalty rather than the death penalty itself and they can be fixed. The two real differences between those supporting and
Capital punishment [...] both sides of the controversy and provide some conclusions as to what should be done regarding capital punishment in America today. Capital punishment is a controversial issue in the United States, with both sides making emotional and viable arguments for and against the use of capital punishment in crime. There are other alternatives to capital punishment, but in the end, are they as effective as the