Mental Retardation: Death Penalty

Abstract

In 2002, the US Supreme Court held in Atkins v. Virginia that the execution of individuals with mental retardation (also referred to as intellectual disability) is unconstitutional. Following the Atkins holding, courts in death penalty jurisdictions have begun to call upon mental health professionals to assist the trier of fact in determining whether offenders in capital murder cases have mental retardation. However, the determination of mental retardation in death penalty cases presents several unique and complex challenges for both legal and mental health professionals. Moreover, there is great variability in how states define mental retardation and in the methods used by mental health professionals to diagnose mental retardation in such cases. The purpose of this chapter is to (i) provide an overview of the current death penalty statutes on mental retardation in the United States; (ii) describe the definitions of mental retardation as promulgated by professional organizations in the field; (iii) discuss the diagnosis of mental retardation in death penalty cases; and (iv) review the available research on malingering and mental retardation.

Le qi, flynn et piaget à la rescousse des condamnés.

“…Les tests les plus généralement acceptés pour mesurer les II chez les adultes sont la Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale-Fifth Edition (SB-5;Roid, 2003), le Leiter-R (Roid & Miller, 2002), le Kaufman Adolescent and Adult Intelligence Test (KAAIT; Kaufman & Kaufman, 1993) et la Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale – Fourth Edition (WAIS-IV; Wechsler, 2008), ce dernier faisant partie du « top 10 » des tests les plus utilisés au monde (Frumkin, 2003; Oakland & Hu, 1992), notamment pour évaluer les II en général et dans les cas de peine de mort en particulier (Macvaugh & Grisso, 2006). Dans le cadre de la mesure de l’intelligence à l’aide de tests de QI, il faut que le score soit de deux écarts-types inférieurs à la moyenne, c’est-à-dire au rang centile 2,3 ou moins, pour qu’un individu fasse partie de la catégorie des personnes ayant des II.…”