Released by Human Rights Watch, this report examines the recent history of capital punishment of mentally retarded offenders in the United States, offering "the first comprehensive human rights-based analysis of such executions." The report reveals that 25 US states still permit the execution of offenders with mental retardation and that at least 35 such offenders have been executed since 1976. The report explores the topics of mental retardation, legal standards, and criminal culpability, and tells the stories of sixteen individuals "who have been sentenced to death despite the profound intellectual limitations they have suffered since birth." The 50-page report may be read by chapter in HTML format at the Human Rights Watch site.
Comments