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Questions on the Death Penalty

From Stacy, Navarre, Ohio:

Do states allow the mentally ill to be executed or do they medicate them to make them "sane" and then kill them?

Amnesty's death penalty experts respond

Dear Stacy,

The execution of persons with mental illness or "the insane" is prohibited by international law. Almost every country in the world prohibits the execution of the mentally ill. In the United States, the execution of someone who does not understand the reason for, or the reality of, his or her punishment is a violation of the Constitution. In 1986, the United States Supreme Court held in Ford v. Wainwright that the execution of the insane was barred by the Eight Amendment, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment.

Despite this decision, there have been many executions carried out on persons who were diagnosed with mental illness. In 2000, the State of Texas executed Larry Keith Robinson, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia, and John Satterwhite, who suffered from both mental illness and mental retardation. Also, the State of Florida executed in 2000 Thomas Provenzano, who suffered from severe delusional episodes and believed he was Jesus Christ. Other examples of executions of the mentally ill include Pernel Ford (Alabama), Bert Hunter (Missouri), and Juan Soria (Texas).

As to medicating prisoners who are mentally ill, the United States Supreme Court held that prisoners may be forced to take antipsychotic medications in some situations, including to ensure that they are competent to stand trial. However, the Supreme Court refused to get involved with the question of the constitutionality of medicating prisoners in order to make them competent to be executed. On October 6, 2003 the Supreme Court let stand a ruling by the federal appeals court in St. Louis in the case of Charles Singleton, in which the court ruled that Arkansas officials may force a convicted murderer to take drugs to make him sane enough to be executed. The appeals court had ruled, 6 to 5, that the Constitution's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment would not be violated if the authorities forcibly administrated antipsychotic medication to Charles Singleton.

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