The Supreme Court Takes Aim at Intellectually Disabled Death Row Inmates

"More than two decades ago, the Supreme Court handed down a landmark decision prohibiting the execution of people with intellectual disabilities. The case, Atkins v. Virginia, was no sidebar in the world of capital punishment. Large numbers of those who commit capital crimes suffer from an intellectual disability. Not only that, even after Atkins, researchers found that "the vast majority of executed offenders possess significant functional deficits that rival-and perhaps outpace-those associated with intellectual impairment.""

"To put it simply, death penalty states have worked hard to get around Atkins by adopting their own standards for determining whether a person accused of a capital crime qualifies under the Supreme Court's decision. As professor John Blume and his colleagues explained three years ago, while "[a] sig­nif­i­cant num­ber of peo­ple with intel­lec­tu­al dis­abil­i­ty have been removed from death row or spared the death penal­ty because of Atkins ... as many oth­er persons that should be inel­i­gi­ble for the death penal­ty have had their asser­tions of intel­lec­tu­al disability rejected.""

The Supreme Court's decision in Atkins v. Virginia prohibits executing people with intellectual disabilities. Many people who commit capital crimes have intellectual disabilities or comparable functional deficits, and researchers report that most executed offenders possess significant functional deficits. Death-penalty states have created their own standards and procedures to determine eligibility, producing obstacles that often nullify the constitutional ban. State courts and legislatures have resisted enforcement of Atkins, leaving many eligible individuals subject to execution. Alabama has been particularly resistant, and the Supreme Court will hear Hamm v. Smith addressing Alabama's practices.

Read at Slate Magazine