America's cruel and unusual culture: Why do we execute the mentally handicapped?

Take it from me, I had a gun held to my forehead in an armed robbery and the kid gets away (with no money, though). I identify him a couple weeks later. In court, his defense was trying to argue the same defense because he had a low IQ, a minor learning disability, and he dropped out of school.

So with this experience, do you really expect me to have compassion or even a little more slack for people with low IQs that commit violent crimes? NO WAY

He was a normal teenager, held a job, went to school, but had a learning disability like countless other kids and dropped out of school. Now his stupidity and lack of education is defendable somehow? I think that's crazy.

i cant believe you guys think it was wrong to treat him the same as everybody as else!!!

hes murderd someone :O oh, actually, its okay, hes mentally handicapped, we should let him go bless him. Or make his life really worth the time and put him in a rubber room for countless number of years!

If hes 35 and doesnt understand whats right or wrong he is a SERIOUS danger to society and everyone around him.

GW Bush was the first to sentence a mentally handicapped to death when he was govenor of Texas. So you all know who to thank for this in justiice

So people think that the thick guys shouldnt be executed? I dont agree with execution but you cant say because hes mentally handicapped he should be treated different. If so, dot you think killers might do bad on IQ tests on purpose?

It doesnt matter what his brain is like, hes still a murderer and should be treated like the others.

Wow, dee...that's one way to look at it, I guess.
If one of my family members were murdered, I would certainly want revenge. However, it is not our governments job to seek revenge for us, it's their job to keep us protected. Since it costs an average of 3 times more to execute someone than it does to imprison someone for 40 years, the obvious solution is lifetime imprisonment.
What if one of your family members were found guilty of a murder they didn't commit, and sentenced to death? Would you still support the death penalty? This DOES happen. Eliminating capital punishment is the right thing to do, even if the life of only ONE innocent person would be spared.

its like punching a pregnant woman in the womb and kicking a puppy similtaneously

This is so sad.

when i was 11 i knew i shouldn't kill.

Mental illness is an excuse used far too much- unless your drooling on yourself and incapable of doing simple tasks on your own your not mentally ill. If your able to hold a gun and fire it then you should suffer the consequence- which in some states and circumstances is death.

okay, no one has the right to take a life, whether handicapped or not, so what gives us the right to take theirs. The guy may not have even known what he did was wrong. Besides, death is the easy way out instead of having to live with your actions and consequences.

It might be more relevant for the journalist who wrote this article, or for the lawyer defending his 'mentally retarded' client for that matter, to have defined for the reader/courtroom exactly what his client does that makes him mentally retarded.

When I read that this guy has an IQ of an 11 year old, I think: does that have anything to do with intention? Last time I checked, IQ did not measure one's intent to commit a crime. I just read a story about a 15 year old boy that was sentenced to prison for life because of a brutal murder he committed. Did he not deserve that sentence because he was 'under-age'? It appears not. The judge ruled against him because his intention was nowhere near good, despite the fact that he was 15. Now, I don't expect him to have a high IQ either, but is that how we define our criminals?

All of this legalese that we use in courtrooms these days can be quite dangerous when journalists who report on these cases put out articles that aren't clear enough as to whether or the man's crime warranted death row. Not to say any crime really does, but after seeing the posts that are condemning America for what 'they've let happen yet again but now to a mentally retarted person' ... I'm thinking it might be more valuable for those with such strong opinions to look further in to the story before they voice their dissent.

i grew up with so called "children " and people with mental disabilitys, and they were all in the L.A. county juvinile facilitys and they were all straight gangstas that would victimize most full grown men. at age 11. faces tattooed with fuck the police . the people must pay for the sins of civilisation.death is one price.

A better question is why we execute anyone. Even if one believes that execution is appropriate punishment (which I don't), practical concerns should be enough to damn the practice. It costs more than life imprisonment, it cannot be reliably performed humanely, there is absolutely no evidence that it acts as a deterrent, and it is applied inconsistently. A black person that murders a white person is significantly more likely to be killed by the state than a white person that murders a black person.

Add to this the absolute certainty that innocent people have been executed, and one is left baffled by the unassailable popularity of state killing in this country. Even politicians considered to be liberals cynically support it (google "Ricky Ray Rector" and note the circumstances of his execution).

Scalia, the death penalty's primary defender on the Supreme Court, is a gargoyle who justifies the practice with his Christian beliefs. A secular society such as our own should not permit this.

When I reflect on what elements of society will be one day recognized as the slavery of our time--that is, something that most people accept but will be regarded as an abomination in the future--I can think of few candidates more promising than the death penalty.

If this man was truly beyond help to the point where he could not control his own actions, then drastic measures should be taken. The death penalty, as controversial as it is, is the best way to remove a person who has become a danger to society to the point where there is no help. Mentally ill or not, if this man was a danger then he needed to be treated as such.
The solution to this problem is not making a new law to protect the mentally ill, but to treat each case as unique, this goes for all murder cases. The only way someone a true fair trial, so called "precedents" need to be thrown out the window. Not each murder is alike, and if a person is found to be mentally incapable of controlling himself in a situation, then this needs to be taken into account, such as the nature of the crime, and the history of violence.
The death penalty is something that does need to be enforced, as there are many people out there that do not deserve extra free chances.

Gods law is straightforward on this

Thou shalt not kill

-simple

somebody tell the country.

Try having one of your family members murdered and maybe you'll be singing a different tune. If there is someone out there who is murdering people, they need to be stopped, whether they are braniacs or mentally handicapped. A dangerous person is a dangerous person. A "civillized society" is subjective... completely based on the opinon of any given person. All societies throughout history that said they were civillized had a system of execution, and I remember from some Bible class I took way back when, it even condoned "and eye for an eye" in the Old Testament. Personally, if you murder someone or something, the murderer should die the exact same way, but apparently that's cruel and unusual punishment, although that consideration wasn't taken for the person and the family of the person who was robbed of their life.

Executions are a tricky thing. On one hand you will occasionally execute an innocent person. On the other hand, I'd rather execute someone like Charles Manson then have to pay for him to stay in prison.

A civilized society just shouldn't be in the business of killing, period.

This country, Carl "execute the unjustly convicted" Rove and all those mistaken judges and prosecutors who are responsible executions got it all wrong.

They want a great society, then be benevolent, be helpful, be an example - don't be the devil.

Do you think an 11 year old would commit such a crime. Who was suppose to be caring for him failed.

If they did the crime which is generally murder then they should die like any other criminal who committed murder would.
As to cruel.When they killed someone THAT was even more cruel.Try to keep that in mind.

Its criminal

The death penalty should not apply, period. Besides, it's more expensive to execute prisoners than to incarcerate them for life. The fact that they are executing mentally handicapped prisoners is just a show of American barbarism.

the death penalty should not apply to all, i find it pathetic that any one would decide to carry on with executing mentaly handicaped human beings.

hey guys. killing people is wrong. so if you kill someone, we're going to kill you. riiiiiiiiiiiiiight.

hey guys. killing people is wrong. so if you kill someone, we're going to kill you. riiiiiiiiiiiiiight.

The death penalty for anyone, is government sanction murder. The death penalty for the mentally handicap, is a crime against humanity.....

Peace

The current system fails. It's not just for the low IQ people, it fails for all people of all IQ levels.

While capital punishment might in some very extreme situations be justified, there is absolutely no justification for executing mentally retarded people. No justification!

First of all, Jtonio, having an IQ of 65 is very different from having ADHD, schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. It's not a "mental disorder." It's having an IQ of 65. Someone with that level of IQ has no more ability to comprehend the law or take responsibility for his own actions than a child. Would you execute a child?

Second of all, just because something is "signed into law" does not make it right. When faced with gross injustice in the law, what should we do? Throw up our hands because it's "the law?"

That we have the death penalty at all is a serious moral crime. That we execute the mentally handicapped is beyond the pale, the barbaric act of an irrational, torch-bearing mob. There is no justice in it for anyone.

Most people on death row use mental retardation as a reason not to get the death penalty during trail. The prosecution will have a mental evaluation done and the attorney for the defendant will have one done and usually a independant also. If one out of three sides with the accused then that is what you will hear about! If someone is mentally handicapped foreal then there should be a history of documented problems. Just cause you are ADHD,Skitzo,Bipolar or any regular mental disease that alot of law abiding citizens have doesnt mean you should be exempt from penaltys signed into law.

This guy probably had no idea what he was doing. But I guess locking him up for life would mean putting others at risk of being killed by him, like cell mates, guards, visitors, etc. Maybe executing him was the best thing to do. MAYBE.

Its shocking that we let this happen

Well i sure dont think anyone should be executing mentally retarded people cos then it is just a stones throw away from anyone making up their own definitions