NCJ Number
214509
Journal
Journal of Forensic Sciences Volume: 51 Issue: 3 Dated: May 2006 Pages: 678-682
Date Published
May 2006
Length
5 pages
Annotation
After an overview of definitions of "mental retardation" and recent case law that addresses mental retardation and the death penalty, this paper reports on a study of factors linked to a diagnosis of mental retardation (MR) among murder defendants.
Abstract
The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Atkins v. Virginia held that persons who are mentally retarded are not subject to the death penalty because of the eighth amendment's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. Thus, the diagnosis of MR among murder defendants has a critical impact on potential sentencing for defendants who are eligible to receive the death penalty. This gives high priority to accurate pretrial forensic assessments regarding MR as well as equitable courtroom sentencing decisions. Among murder defendants in South Carolina who had undergone pretrial evaluations by the State Department of Mental Health for competency to stand trial and criminal responsibility in the years 1995-2000 (n=270), female murder defendants were more likely to be diagnosed as having MR. MR was also more often diagnosed in subjects with an Axis I cognitive disorder. Having an IQ score of less than 70 was more common in subjects with a psychotic and substance use disorder, but this did not necessarily bring a diagnosis of MR in this subgroup. Additional research should focus on adaptive functioning variables as factors that distinguish between murder defendants with and without a MR diagnosis. Future research should also assess methods for determining adaptive functioning in the pretrial evaluation of murder defendants and identify factors that distinguish between male and female murder defendants. 2 tables and 23 references