Can the mentally retarded and the mentally insane be put to death?
In Atkins v. Virginia (U.S. 304 2002), the U.S. Supreme Court held that executions of people with mental retardation violates the Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment. While this decision did not clearly define mental retardation, it recommended language endorsed by the American Association of Mental Retardation. Individual states have defined retardation for purposes of the death penalty. The execution of the insane is a violation of the U.S. Constitution, according to Ford v. Wainwright (1986). This decision left the determination of sanity up to each state. There are few constitutional protections for those with other forms of mental illness. Three important, recent U.S. Supreme Court cases involve mental illness and the death penalty. Sell v. United States (2002) examines the right of defendants incompetent to stand trial to refuse medication. Clark v. Arizona (2006) examines the scope of psychiatric defenses. Panetti v. Texas (2006) examines the definition of compe
