Punishment: Is It Ethical To Execute The Mentally Ill
Enedelia Duran
Mr. William Taliancich
ENGL 1301
Date 16, 2013
Is It Ethical to Execute the mentally Ill
Imagine sitting down on your sofa and watching the news. Two little girls were murdered by their father. While watching the news many of us think how could a father do this to his own children? But did the father really killed his daughters? It was later learned that the father suffered from a mental illness Bipolar Disorder. So the question I pose to you today is one that has been debated for many years. Is it ethical to put to death with a mental illness?
So what is mental illness? According to the National Alliance on mental illness as a medical conditions that disrupt a person 's thinking, feeling, mood, and ability to others and …show more content…
daily functioning. There are major serious mental illnesses such as major depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder and panic disorder, post traumatic stress order and borderline personality disorder. Now on this days mental illness have been a huge part of our society. Nearly 50% of adults experience a mental illness at some point of their lives. In fact depression being the number one cause of all illness that cause disability. The history behind mental illness is that is a product of possession by evil spirits. In fact, four of the ten leading causes of disability among people aged five and older are mental health disorders. Despite this high prevalence of mental illness only about 20% of people who have a mental health illness receive professional help.
Mental illness is something that many people in the United States are no stranger to. In fact, it is estimated that nearly six million adults in the united states suffer from bipolar disorder alone. Let 's start by defining what bipolar disorder is. Bipolar disorder is a mental disorder categorized by extremely low depressive states(loss of appetite, depression, excessive sleeping, feelings of hopelessness and sometimes thoughts of suicide).
Racism is often the driving force behind crime.
There is a pattern of evidence indicating racial disparities in the charging, sentencing, and imposition of the death penalty according to a 1990 U.S. Government report. Racism is not the only problem with Capital Punishment. Many inmates on death row suffer from mental retardation. In fact the 1984 ECOSOC safeguards state that death penalty must not be carried out on persons who have become insane, while the ECOSOC resolution 1989/64 on the executation of the 1984 safeguards recommends that UN members states eliminate the death penalty for persons suffering from mental illness or extremely limited competence. Amnesty International has documented the cases of more than 50 prisoners suffering from mental illness who have been executed in the U.S. in the past decade. Humanitarian standards maintain that mentally impaired people should not be held criminally responsible for their acts. The prohibition against executing insane recognizes that killing people who cannot comprehend the nature and purpose of their punishment is not a deterrent or retribution. Despite all this the mentally ill are still being executed. Innocent people will be killed if the death penalty is kept in the same way that it is used today. Three hundred fifty people convicted of capital crimes in the U.S. between 1990 and 1985were innocent of the crime charged, according to a 1987 study. Some prisoners escaped execution by minutes, but 23 were not so lucky …show more content…
and found innocent of their crimes after they had been put to death.
However, a U.S. Congressional report by the house Subcommittee on Civil and Constitutional Rights in October 1993 listed 48 condemned men who have been freed from death row since 1972. The report blames inadequate system. The report concluded:"Judging by past experience, a substantial number of death row inmates are indeed innocent, and there is a high risk that some of them will be executed."
The death penalty violates the rights to life, and subjects the prisoner to the ultimate form of cruel, inhumane or degrading punishment which goes against the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Declaration, adopted by the United Nations in 1948, proclaim each person 's right to protection from deprivation of life, and it also states that no one shall be subject to cruel or degrading punishment. The pre-meditated and cold-blooded killing of prisoners in state custody violates these rights. Over half the world 's countries have abolished in law or practice capital punishment. Forty three nations have abolished the death penalty since 1976, the year was restated in the U.S., pacing us among such bastions of fairness and justice as Iran and China.
After the Supreme Court 's decisions in Thompson v.
Oklahoma, it is probably unconstitutional to execute anyone for a crime committed while under sixteen. In any event, no state affirmatively permits execution of such youth. Twelve states and the federal government prohibit execution of people who are mentally retarded, an apparent trend, as recently as 1989 only two states did so. These prohibitions, based primarily on perceptions of culpability for the crime committed, exists independently of the eight amendment bar, recognized in Ford, that prohibits execution of a person who is "incompetent" at the pointed time of execution. In sharp contrast to the immunity from execution granted to children and people with mental retardation, no state prohibits execution of a person who was mentally ill at the of the offense. The fourteenth amendment 's injunction requiring equal protection under the law is violated by this difference in treatment because there is no good reason for it, although as noted in part one, there are psychological differences between people with mental retardation and the people with mental illness, there are no significant, legally relevant differences between these two groups, or between them and children. Thus, a state does not treat all three groups similarly in terms of eligibility for execution is acting
unconstitutionally.
Works Cited
Editor, author, or compiler name (if available). “Title of Article.” Name of Site. Version number. Name of institution/organization affiliated with the site (sponsor or publisher), date of resource creation (if available). Web. Date of access.
Editor, author, or compiler name (if available). “Title of Article.” Name of Site. Version number. Name of institution/organization affiliated with the site (sponsor or publisher), date of resource creation (if available). Web. Date of access.
Editor, author, or compiler name (if available). “Title of Article.” Name of Site. Version number. Name of institution/organization affiliated with the site (sponsor or publisher), date of resource creation (if available). Web. Date of access.
Lastname, Firstname. Title of Book. City of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication. Print.
Mr. William Taliancich
ENGL 1301
Date 16, 2013
Is It Ethical to Execute the mentally Ill
Imagine sitting down on your sofa and watching the news. Two little girls were murdered by their father. While watching the news many of us think how could a father do this to his own children? But did the father really killed his daughters? It was later learned that the father suffered from a mental illness Bipolar Disorder. So the question I pose to you today is one that has been debated for many years. Is it ethical to put to death with a mental illness?
So what is mental illness? According to the National Alliance on mental illness as a medical conditions that disrupt a person 's thinking, feeling, mood, and ability to others and …show more content…
daily functioning. There are major serious mental illnesses such as major depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder and panic disorder, post traumatic stress order and borderline personality disorder. Now on this days mental illness have been a huge part of our society. Nearly 50% of adults experience a mental illness at some point of their lives. In fact depression being the number one cause of all illness that cause disability. The history behind mental illness is that is a product of possession by evil spirits. In fact, four of the ten leading causes of disability among people aged five and older are mental health disorders. Despite this high prevalence of mental illness only about 20% of people who have a mental health illness receive professional help.
Mental illness is something that many people in the United States are no stranger to. In fact, it is estimated that nearly six million adults in the united states suffer from bipolar disorder alone. Let 's start by defining what bipolar disorder is. Bipolar disorder is a mental disorder categorized by extremely low depressive states(loss of appetite, depression, excessive sleeping, feelings of hopelessness and sometimes thoughts of suicide).
Racism is often the driving force behind crime.
There is a pattern of evidence indicating racial disparities in the charging, sentencing, and imposition of the death penalty according to a 1990 U.S. Government report. Racism is not the only problem with Capital Punishment. Many inmates on death row suffer from mental retardation. In fact the 1984 ECOSOC safeguards state that death penalty must not be carried out on persons who have become insane, while the ECOSOC resolution 1989/64 on the executation of the 1984 safeguards recommends that UN members states eliminate the death penalty for persons suffering from mental illness or extremely limited competence. Amnesty International has documented the cases of more than 50 prisoners suffering from mental illness who have been executed in the U.S. in the past decade. Humanitarian standards maintain that mentally impaired people should not be held criminally responsible for their acts. The prohibition against executing insane recognizes that killing people who cannot comprehend the nature and purpose of their punishment is not a deterrent or retribution. Despite all this the mentally ill are still being executed. Innocent people will be killed if the death penalty is kept in the same way that it is used today. Three hundred fifty people convicted of capital crimes in the U.S. between 1990 and 1985were innocent of the crime charged, according to a 1987 study. Some prisoners escaped execution by minutes, but 23 were not so lucky …show more content…
and found innocent of their crimes after they had been put to death.
However, a U.S. Congressional report by the house Subcommittee on Civil and Constitutional Rights in October 1993 listed 48 condemned men who have been freed from death row since 1972. The report blames inadequate system. The report concluded:"Judging by past experience, a substantial number of death row inmates are indeed innocent, and there is a high risk that some of them will be executed."
The death penalty violates the rights to life, and subjects the prisoner to the ultimate form of cruel, inhumane or degrading punishment which goes against the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Declaration, adopted by the United Nations in 1948, proclaim each person 's right to protection from deprivation of life, and it also states that no one shall be subject to cruel or degrading punishment. The pre-meditated and cold-blooded killing of prisoners in state custody violates these rights. Over half the world 's countries have abolished in law or practice capital punishment. Forty three nations have abolished the death penalty since 1976, the year was restated in the U.S., pacing us among such bastions of fairness and justice as Iran and China.
After the Supreme Court 's decisions in Thompson v.
Oklahoma, it is probably unconstitutional to execute anyone for a crime committed while under sixteen. In any event, no state affirmatively permits execution of such youth. Twelve states and the federal government prohibit execution of people who are mentally retarded, an apparent trend, as recently as 1989 only two states did so. These prohibitions, based primarily on perceptions of culpability for the crime committed, exists independently of the eight amendment bar, recognized in Ford, that prohibits execution of a person who is "incompetent" at the pointed time of execution. In sharp contrast to the immunity from execution granted to children and people with mental retardation, no state prohibits execution of a person who was mentally ill at the of the offense. The fourteenth amendment 's injunction requiring equal protection under the law is violated by this difference in treatment because there is no good reason for it, although as noted in part one, there are psychological differences between people with mental retardation and the people with mental illness, there are no significant, legally relevant differences between these two groups, or between them and children. Thus, a state does not treat all three groups similarly in terms of eligibility for execution is acting
unconstitutionally.
Works Cited
Editor, author, or compiler name (if available). “Title of Article.” Name of Site. Version number. Name of institution/organization affiliated with the site (sponsor or publisher), date of resource creation (if available). Web. Date of access.
Editor, author, or compiler name (if available). “Title of Article.” Name of Site. Version number. Name of institution/organization affiliated with the site (sponsor or publisher), date of resource creation (if available). Web. Date of access.
Editor, author, or compiler name (if available). “Title of Article.” Name of Site. Version number. Name of institution/organization affiliated with the site (sponsor or publisher), date of resource creation (if available). Web. Date of access.
Lastname, Firstname. Title of Book. City of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication. Print.