Texas holds the title for the state with most executions in the United States gaining heavy scrutiny for the use of death penalty. Many are concerned that the death penalty is in direct violation of the 8th amendment of the constitution which forbids the act of cruel and unusual punishment as well as being wrong on a moral level. This becomes a hot button issue when mental illness comes into play as 30% of Texas's incarcerated inmates, have been clients of the state’s mental health system (“Texas Death Penalty”). Andre Lee Thomas is one of those inmates, sentenced to death, but also deemed mentally unstable. Andre Lee Thomas came from a very modest upbringing with 5 brothers and absent parents. He started displaying signs of mental instability at a young age which progressively worsened as he aged making several suicide attempts. Thomas received multiple detention warrants, many times after hurting himself or in one case, stabbing his own brother. In each of these instances the warrants were not enforced (“Trouble in Mind”). A day after his last detention warrant, Thomas stabs and then removes the hearts of his ex-wife, his son, and his ex-wife’s baby from a new boyfriend. The flaws of Texas’s …show more content…
Under the aforementioned 8th amendment, cruel and unusual punishment is unconstitutional, but when funding is not available to help diagnose and care for the mentally ill criminals is the easy to let them slip through the cracks. Much like Thomas who despite displaying the severe signs of instability. For instances, while awaiting trial and sentencing Thomas removed both of his eyes with his bare hands, stating he was prompted by a bible verse (“Trouble in Mind”). Concerns begin to rise as to whether or not the death penalty is the proper punishment for a man who is clearly crazy, as well as the legality in the use of the death
The Supreme Court tested again the procedure and criterion of competency for execution of a mental illness defendant in 2007 in Panetti v. Quarterman (Panetti I). The Supreme Court ruled in Panetti that to be executed an inmate must not only be aware of the reason for his execution, the inmate must have a rational comprehension of the State’s reasoning for his
The first case of the day that was heard by the Supreme Court on December 13th was Texas v. Johnson. Gregory Lee Johnson, a member of the Revolutionary Communist Youth Brigade, led a protest at the 1984 Republican National Convention in Dallas to protest Ronald Reagan’s reelection. During this protest, Mr. Johnson soaked an American flag in kerosene and proceed to burn it. Mr. Johnson was then arrested and charged for violating the Texas state law that prevented the desecration of a venerated object. The proceedings began with statements from the petitioners who claimed that precedent cases such as US v. O’Brien (1968), which deemed that the burning of draft cards was an invalid form of free speech, and Boos v. Barry (1988), which reinforced
Claude Jones was executed by lethal injection in Texas on December 7, 2000. On Nov. 14, 1989, Jones and another man were seen pulling into the parking lot of Zell's liquor store in Point Blank, Texas. Claude Jones was executed by lethal injection in Texas on December 7, 2000. On Nov. 14, 1989, Jones and another man were seen pulling into the parking lot of Zell's liquor store in Point Blank, Texas. Claude Jones was executed by lethal injection in Texas on December 7, 2000.
In the case, Kennedy v. Louisiana, Patrick Kennedy was convicted of aggravated assault. Specifically, the raping of his eight-year-old stepdaughter. The capital punishment for rape of a child under twelve years of age in the state of Louisiana was a death sentence. 1 Evidence: At 9:18 A.M., on March 2, 1998, Patrick Kennedy had called 911.
In Roper v. Simmons there are two issues that must be addressed, the first being the issue of moral maturity and culpability. The defense in the trial phase of this case argued that Mr. Simmons was an at an age where he was not responsible enough to fully understand the effects and consequences of his actions. The majority draws on Atkins v. Virginia to argue that this specific precedent supports their case that the death penalty should not be imposed on the mentally immature or impaired. However, an important point to be made is that the Atkins v. Virginia decision is geared towards the clinical definition of mental retardation: significant limitations that limit adaptive skills. Also, another important question to consider is the competency and premeditation of Mr. Simmons’ crime in this case.
Throughout time the death penalty has not been administered equally, and the Innocence Project has been receiving a lot of attention for allowing information such as this to be surfaced. The Innocence Project has been created to help exonerate those that are seeking death row. The Innocence Project has created a statistic from their own findings as a result will be used to show what really happens behind the scene of death row through a lenses that most people would not hear. The Innocence Project receives about 8000+letters each year from .prisoners seeking help with their case. Race plays a big factor in the decision process during trials.
The University of Texas-Pan American Essay #2 Anna Salkinder LSPI July 27, 2015 The death penalty has been a major topic of debate in the United States as well as various parts of the world for numerous years. At this time, there are thirty-one states in which the death penalty is legal. Nineteen states have completely abolished it (“States with and without The Death Penalty”). Since its initial development back in the 1600’s, the death penalty has taken a different course in the way it is utilized. In its early days, the death penalty was greatly used and implemented for several offenses.
Although the death penalty in Texas costs about three times more than life in prison without parole, it is reserved as the punishment of robbing another of their rights to life, freedom, and safety (Deathpenaltyinfo). It is a valid question to wonder why we should spare the life of one, opting to provide for all of their basics needs when they without question robbed another of their rights to life, freedom, and safety through murder or another cruel action. The case of Andre Thomas raised questions of whether or not the mentally incompetent should be eligible for the death penalty. Thomas murdered two children and the wife he was separated from, maintaining that the act was dictated by God. Statements by Thomas conveyed that he knew that what he had done was wrong after he had after committing the crime.
Today there are more mentally ill people in prisons and jails in the United States than any hospital or psych facility in this country. Cook County Jail in Chicago, Illinois is the largest mental health institution in the country. When a mentally ill person gets arrested for a violent crime they stay three to four times longer than a regular violent offender. “One third of those incarnated in cook county jail suffers from psychological disorders.” According to a 2006 Justice Department study, more than half of prisoners in the United States Suffer from some sort of mental health problem.
Bryan Stevenson’s a black man from a poor family in Delaware grew up to be a lawyer, whose legal career was focused on helping marginalized people wrongly convicted or punitively sentenced for non-homicidal crimes. This work of literature was mostly focused on his account of the injustices, blatant racism and discrimination that the Criminal Justice System inflicted on the poor marginalized people of Alabama and other southern states. Stevenson presented a variety of cases throughout the book, however his main focus was on the case of Walter McMillian, a Black man falsely convicted of murder and was sentenced to death in Alabama in the 1980’s. Stevenson was the founder of Equal Justice Initiative, an organization that provides legal representation
This is because the 8th amendment states, “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.” Giving someone who has mental disease the death penalty would be seen as a cruel and unusual punishment. Some may argue that even though the killer did murder the man, he did not show any empathy for what he did. This can be proven otherwise because of the fact that someone under the influence of mental disease may not always be able to control their actions. In similar cases such as the Walton vs. Virginia, and Eley vs. Ohio, the same practice was used.
The death penalty is a controversial issue that has been debated in the United States for a long period of time. In our own state of Texas, executing convicted criminals has become second nature. This is due to the fact that Texas has executed more people than any other state in the United States since 1976. So why does Texas lead the United States in executions? There are many reasons and factors that has led to this point.
Annotated Bibliography Draft Student name : Haider Zafaryab Student number: 2360526 Thesis Statement : Capital Punishment is a very controversial topic around the globe. I believe that it does more harm than good and breeds violence in society. Source 1: Radelet, M. L., & Akers, R. L. (1996).
Throughout human history, humans have been known to execute gruesome acts. Whether these acts are small and insignificant or massive and change history, humans are capable of performing horrific plots against one another. To make matters worse, most of the people who commit these terrible crimes are people who are entirely in a clear state of mind. Nevertheless, there are some cases in which the line between sanity and mental instability blurs. For example, there is an ongoing debate regarding the mental health of the main character in William Faulkner’s story “A Rose for Emily.”
The criminal case I have selected for this assignment is on Justin Morton; who at the age of fourteen years old Morton was the first youth convicted of first-degree murder section 231 CC. Although, The report show that the young man was raised in a healthy and supportive home with his mother and father. In spite of this, Justin expresses to his psychiatrist his impulse and desire for inflicting pain on others; he claims to have no remorse for the murder of Eric Levrack. Not to mention, He also voiced to former classmates that "Eric was annoying, always invading his space. "As a matter of fact, after the killing on April 1, 2003, Morton had turned himself in, he described the event as an open game of trust just before he strangled Eric with a belt.