Executing Mentally Ill Criminals

Paper Summary:

The writer of this paper presents a detailed examination regarding the execution of mentally ill criminals. The writer explores case law, as well as moral issues when it comes to medicating the mentally ill with anti-psychotics so they are well enough to be executed. This paper analyzes the verdicts in several death sentence trials, including the cases of Ford vs. Wainwright and Singleton vs. Norris. In 1986, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that the execution of the mentally incompetent violates the 8th Amendment prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. A prisoner cannot be executed unless sufficiently competent to understand the nature and reasons for his punishment. This paper also details the recent 6-to-5 decision and the first ruling of its kind, in Singleton vs. Norris, that a mentally ill prisoner may be involuntarily medicated with anti-psychotic drugs to restore his competency for execution. The author examines the issue of executing the mentally ill after forcing them to take medication which has been upheld in several U.S. courts . The logic behind such decisions is flawed for several reasons, which are detailed in this paper.

Table of Contents:
Introduction
Getting Worse Before it Gets Better
Works Cited

From the Paper:

"The execution of the mentally ill after forcing them to take medication has been upheld in several US courts. The logic behind such decisions is flawed for several reasons. The mentally ill who are so disordered that they cannot function are not forced to stand trial, nor are they required to answer for their crimes. They are allowed an insanity defense that allows them to seek treatment and eventually apply to be released back to society. It does not make sense, that a mentally ill person can be force fed medications so that they become sane enough to be executed, if defendants cannot be force fed medications for the purpose of understanding their crime and standing trial. The health care industry is built on not harming others."

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