20th Anniversary: Assessing the Purported SCOTUS Ban on Executing Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities
From the Death Penalty Information Center: “In its landmark decision in Atkins v. Virginia in 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court declared that the use of the death penalty against individuals with intellectual disability constituted cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment. Twenty years later, however, “there is not just the risk, but the certainty” […]
Court Overturns Ohio Death Sentence After Defense Expert Testifies that One Quarter of Urban Black Men Should be Locked Up or Thrown Away
This story from the Death Penalty Information Center shows some consequences of the racialization of mental health in the criminal justice system: “In a unanimous ruling on August 22, 2022, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit held that the “racialized testimony” offered by a defense expert at the […]