Individuals that have serious mental issues usually find themselves at a disadvantage. They may not defend themselves adequately when faced with criminal charges and may not understand the complexity of the charges. Additionally, an individual with mental issues may commit a serious criminal offense that warrants a death penalty. Since individuals that are mentally ill cannot adequately follow capital proceedings, it would be an injustice to sentence one that is mentally ill to death. Unfortunately, there are some states that impose the death penalty for mentally ill individuals across the United States. Analysis of the the background and past cases regarding the issue of mental health and death penalty shows that individuals that are mentally ill are not deserving of death penalty.
Part I Background
Mental illness can be described in different ways. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, mental can be described as a medical condition which disrupts the thinking, mood, feeling, ability to relate to others, and daily functioning. There are serious mental illnesses that include schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, panic disorder, major depression, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), borderline personality disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (Grannello & Gibbs, 2016). The presence of mental illness means that an individual would be impaired from performing normally either through emotional, behavioral, and cognitive function.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Insanity is a severe form of mental illness that is addressed by the current legal system. Inmates that are insane have lost touch with reality and cannot differentiate between right and wrong are usually exempted from execution. This was upheld by the Supreme Court Ford v. Wainwright (477 U.S. 399 (1986)) which indicated that executing an individual that is insane is unconstitutional (Melton et al., 2018). However, in case the mental competency of an individual gets restored, then he or she can be rightfully executed. However, the Supreme Court has not yet ruled out on the fact that it is unconstitutional to execute someone that suffered mental illness at the time the crime was committed.
The process of determining whether an individual is guilty and warrants a death sentence is usually a difficult one. Most states require psychiatric evaluation and evidence of the mental health condition. A death sentence could be granted in case the individual has shown that they pose future threat and danger. While there is no specific statistics, it is estimated that there are approximately 20 percent of people on death row that have mental illnesses (Edens et al., 2015). This number is significantly especially when one considers that most of the individuals do not understand the gravity of their situation. Those that do understand either committed the crimes as a result of an uncontrollable impulse.
Part II: Major Cases and Statutes
There have been several cases in the past decade where individuals have been executed even after they showed signs and clear evidence of mental illness. In March 2016, Andre Thomas was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and had a long history of paranoid schizophrenia remains on death row. Days after committing his crime and going without medication, Thomas removed his right eye and years later removed his left eye with biblical overtones (Perlin et al., 2017).
Another case was the execution of Cecil Clayton in March 2015 in Missouri. He was at the age of 74, had suffered from dementia and had an IQ of 71, and a significant part of his brain removed due to an accident. Mr. Clayton was sentenced to death for the fatal November 1996 shooting of a deputy sheriff in rural area southwestern Missouri. Mr. Clayton shot the police in his patrol car at a close range in the head and the officer died from a single wound on the head. Clayton was executed even though his lawyers had shown evidence from the MRI scan that he was missing 20% of his frontal lobe and had experiences involving impulse control, social behavior, and problem-solving (Perlin et al., 2017).
While the court has continually imposed the death penalty on some individuals, there are other individuals that have had their sentences reduced because of showing signs of mental illnesses. Abdul Awkal escaped execution in June 2012 after he was granted a two-week reprieve to allow time for a mental competency hearing. The finding was Awkal was not fit to be put to death. He had been sentenced to death in 1992 for murdering his brother-in-law and wife but was later found incompetent for trial. Another similar incidence was Robert James Acremant in 2011 who was granted life in prison without parole unless new evidence points out that he had feigned his mental illness (Perlin et al., 2017). These cases show that the current law can stop the death penalty and execution of an individual after identifying an individual as mentally ill.
Part III: Personal Analysis
The death penalty is intended to be the ultimate punishment and should also be reserved for the most blame worth individuals that commit the worst crimes. It is not effective and does not serve any justice if it is applied to any individual that suffers from severe mental illness. The case of Andre Thomas and Cecil Clayton is especially disturbing because the two individuals were diagnosed with mental illness but were placed on death row or executed. Andre Thomas had a history of schizophrenia to the extent that he removed his eyes but was still put in death row. The MRI scan of Cecil Clayton clearly showed evidence of mental illness but the court still went ahead with the execution.
The cases of Abdul Awkal and Robert James Acremant were handled correctly and show an example of the proper treatment of individuals on death row. Their sentences can be reduced and one should be removed from death row in case they have been found with mental illness. This shows that the Supreme Court has recognized that there are individuals who have impairments, are mentally ill, and it would be unconstitutional to apply the death penalty.
Conclusion
The death penalty is a punishment that should be reserved for blameworthy individuals and not for the mentally ill. Proper evidence should be put forward to show that an individual is mentally ill and that they should not be put on death row. The current legislative system does not allow for the execution that has been found as mentally ill. However, there are still a few cases where an individual was identified as mentally ill but was still executed. There are also other cases where the death penalty was removed after an individual was identified as mentally ill. Individuals that are mentally ill should be removed from death row and their penalties reduced.
References
Edens, J. F., Kelley, S. E., Lilienfeld, S. O., Skeem, J. L., & Douglas, K. S. (2015). DSM-5 antisocial personality disorder: Predictive validity in a prison sample. Law and Human Behavior , 39 (2), 123.
Granello, D. H., & Gibbs, T. A. (2016). The power of language and labels: “the mentally ill” versus “people with mental illnesses”. Journal of Counseling & Development , 94 (1), 31-40.
Melton, G. B., Petrila, J., Poythress, N. G., Slobogin, C., Otto, R. K., Mossman, D., & Condie, L. O. (2017). Psychological evaluations for the courts: A handbook for mental health professionals and lawyers . Guilford Publications.
Perlin, M. L., Cucolo, H. E., & Lynch, A. (2017). Mental disability law: Cases and materials . Carolina Academic Press.
