INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES AND THE DEATH PENALTY IN TEXAS 1
Intellectual Disabilities and The Death Penalty in the State of Texas
Name
Professor
Institution Affiliation
Date
Intellectual Disabilities and the Death Penalty in the State of Texas
, INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES AND THE DEATH PENALTY IN TEXAS 2
Introduction
The state of Texas has remained in the list of the topmost state that has consistently
recorded the highest death penalties offered to people concerning capital offenses. Concerning a
total execution amounting to a total nationwide tally of 1,465, Texas, is accountable for 545
since the lifting of the moratorium in 1976 by the Court (Green, 2019). This stands to be five
times more than the second leading state. The State of Texas has for a long term failed in passing
relevant and substantive laws in defining the legal or illegal basis of determining or passing
judgment on people with an intellectual disability concerning sentencing them to a death penalty.
This has been on from the time the United States passed a ruling that it remained unconstitutional
to pass execution to individuals deemed to have an intellectual disability. The State of Texas,
after two decades of the ruling, still has no defined or validated process for determining the
condition of intellectual disability, which has consequently left the life and death decisions
within the hands of courts with varying methods of dealing with the same. There has been
consistent and increased debate on the clear definition of what extent or who is intellectually
disabled, thus prolonging and making this issue challenging. Under the Eighth Amendment, the
Court in 2002 ruled that executing individuals with an intellectual disability is cruel and unusual
punishment (Holler, 2018). This thus left the States responsible for coming up and creating their
own methodologies of defining the conditions. However, the Texas legislature has not even
presently done so, which has left the task to the courts, which has led to a hodgepodge structure
and process of deciding the critical question of if an individual facing a death sentence ought to
be spared from the execution. Thus, this research paper focuses on reviewing the issue involving
intellectual disabilities and the death penalty on targeting to offering a policy to aid in the
mitigation of the issue.
Intellectual Disabilities and The Death Penalty in the State of Texas
Name
Professor
Institution Affiliation
Date
Intellectual Disabilities and the Death Penalty in the State of Texas
, INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES AND THE DEATH PENALTY IN TEXAS 2
Introduction
The state of Texas has remained in the list of the topmost state that has consistently
recorded the highest death penalties offered to people concerning capital offenses. Concerning a
total execution amounting to a total nationwide tally of 1,465, Texas, is accountable for 545
since the lifting of the moratorium in 1976 by the Court (Green, 2019). This stands to be five
times more than the second leading state. The State of Texas has for a long term failed in passing
relevant and substantive laws in defining the legal or illegal basis of determining or passing
judgment on people with an intellectual disability concerning sentencing them to a death penalty.
This has been on from the time the United States passed a ruling that it remained unconstitutional
to pass execution to individuals deemed to have an intellectual disability. The State of Texas,
after two decades of the ruling, still has no defined or validated process for determining the
condition of intellectual disability, which has consequently left the life and death decisions
within the hands of courts with varying methods of dealing with the same. There has been
consistent and increased debate on the clear definition of what extent or who is intellectually
disabled, thus prolonging and making this issue challenging. Under the Eighth Amendment, the
Court in 2002 ruled that executing individuals with an intellectual disability is cruel and unusual
punishment (Holler, 2018). This thus left the States responsible for coming up and creating their
own methodologies of defining the conditions. However, the Texas legislature has not even
presently done so, which has left the task to the courts, which has led to a hodgepodge structure
and process of deciding the critical question of if an individual facing a death sentence ought to
be spared from the execution. Thus, this research paper focuses on reviewing the issue involving
intellectual disabilities and the death penalty on targeting to offering a policy to aid in the
mitigation of the issue.
