In 2002 the Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional to execute individuals with intellectual disabilities. In spite of this ruling, Texas appears poised to execute Milton Mathias. Mathias, whose I.Q. of 62 places him well below the guidelines established in Atkins v. Virginia, was convicted in 1999 . A recent op-ed piece in the Houston Chronicle, offers a brief overview of Mathias’ case, including a report by an experienced f0rensic psychologist that Mathias has an intellectual disability. The author of the article also points out that the federal judge who denied a stay of execution for Mathias failed to realize that her ruling would preclude litigation in state district court. By the time the judge realized her error, the case had moved out of her jurisdiction. With the execution scheduled for today, Mathias’ fate now rests in the hands of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and Governor Rick Perry. In speaking about the case,  Andrea Keilen, executive director of the Texas Defender Service, pointed out, “What is really troubling is that in this case process has trumped substance. The evidence of mental retardation is compelling, overwhelming, and, because the state courts heard it, the federal courts have not allowed the evidence to be introduced.”

As much as we all wish Milton Mathias’ story to be an isolated incident, we know that it is not. Whether by error or intent, people with intellectual disabilities are sentenced to death and executed in our country every year. Our system is not  fail-safe, nor will it ever be. Allowing the execution of someone with an intellectual disability reflects a facet of our national psyche unbecoming of a civilized society.

The issue is not accountability. If someone is found competent to stand trial, then he or she can be found guilty and sentenced for the crime.  Society must be protected from dangerous individuals.  The question is not about  guilt or innocence, but sentencing.  Do we really believe that people with intellectual disabilities or those suffering from psychotic delusions because of a severe mental illness are the worst of the worst and should be executed when there are other sentences available?  Is this the kind of society we want to be?

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Fairly, there are numerous aspects you would like to think about medications. All discount medicaments save money, but few online drugstores offer better deals than other online drugstores. There isn’t anything you can’t order online anymore. Remedies like Deltasone ordinarily is used to treat diseases such as eye problems. Glucocorticoids naturally occurring steroids, which are easily absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract. There are varied drugs for every conditions. Cialis is a remedy prescribed to treat many illnesses. What do you already know about long term side effects of cialis? What consumers talk about how long does it take for cialis to take effect? A general sexual appeal among men is the erectile disfunction. Sexual problems mostly signal deeper problems: low libido or erectile dysfunction can be the symptom a strong soundness problem such as core trouble. Albeit the erectile disfunction itself isn’t necessarily dangerous, erectile disfunction is sometimes one of the early warning symptoms of other underlying soundness conditions that can be very dangerous. Unfortunately nearly all over-the-counter medicines have sometimes dangerous aftereffects, from muscle aches to death. If you buy any erectile dysfunction medicaments like Cialis, check with a physician that they are sure to take with your other drugs. Do not take unwanted medications. Take Cialis to your local chemist’s shop which will dispose of them for you.

David Baldus, renowned death penalty researcher and Iowa University law professor, died Monday, June 13th. During his time at Iowa, Baldus “taught criminal law, anti-discrimination law, capital punishment and federal criminal law, and was nationally recognized for his research on the death penalty.” His most influential research involved studying capital cases in Georgia during the 1970s and 1980s. Baldus and his fellow researchers found that defendants accused of murdering a white person were 4.3 times more likely to receive the death penalty than defendants who were accused of murdering a person of color. Considered a consummate professional, Baldus received national attention when his reports were cited in McKlesky v. Kemp, a U.S. Supreme Court case involving racial discrimination and the death penalty. While many will remember him for his excellent research, others, such as University of Iowa Law Professor Josephine Gittler, will remember a “wonderful friend and colleague.” Sandy Boyd, former president of the University of Iowa echoed similar sentiments. ” He was one of the nation’s outstanding law professors and a great citizen of the university. He had a great warmth and concern for others.”

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Fairly, there are numerous aspects you would like to think about medications. All discount medicaments save money, but few online drugstores offer better deals than other online drugstores. There isn’t anything you can’t order online anymore. Remedies like Deltasone ordinarily is used to treat diseases such as eye problems. Glucocorticoids naturally occurring steroids, which are easily absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract. There are varied drugs for every conditions. Cialis is a remedy prescribed to treat many illnesses. What do you already know about long term side effects of cialis? What consumers talk about how long does it take for cialis to take effect? A general sexual appeal among men is the erectile dysfunction. Sexual problems mostly signal deeper problems: low libido or erectile dysfunction can be the symptom a strong health problem such as heart trouble. Albeit the erectile malfunction itself isn’t necessarily dangerous, erectile dysfunction is sometimes one of the early warning symptoms of other underlying heartiness conditions that can be highly dangerous. Unfortunately nearly all over-the-counter medicines have sometimes dangerous aftereffects, from muscle aches to death. If you buy any erectile dysfunction medicaments like Cialis, check with a physician that they are sure to take with your other drugs. Do not take unwanted medications. Take Cialis to your local chemist’s shop which will dispose of them for you.

Danish pharmaceutical company Lundbeck Inc. will now be doing more to ensure one of their products, pentobarbital, is not used to execute people. Lundbeck Inc., the sole U.S. manufacturer of the drug, released a statement pointing to new protocol, such as switching to specialist wholesalers and “end user clauses”, which should make it more difficult for states to obtain the drug for executions. The company’s chief executive, Ulf Wiinberg, also took the step of sending letters to state officials “warning that it is not safe to use the drug in untested ways, including in lethal injection protocols.” Wiinberg made it clear that Lundbeck Inc. is “willing to try to stop Nembutal’s (pentobarbital) misuse even if we can’t guarantee that it will necessarily work. Obviously we would like to do the right thing.” Several states began using pentobarbital following a shortage of sodium thiopental, including Ohio, Texas, Oklahoma, Arizona, Alabama, Mississippi, and South Carolina.

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Fairly, there are numerous aspects you would like to think about medications. All discount medicaments save money, but few online drugstores offer better deals than other online drugstores. There isn’t anything you can’t order online anymore. Remedies like Deltasone ordinarily is used to treat diseases such as eye problems. Glucocorticoids naturally occurring steroids, which are easily absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract. There are varied drugs for every conditions. Cialis is a remedy prescribed to treat many illnesses. What do you already know about long term side effects of cialis? What consumers talk about how long does it take for cialis to take effect? A general sexual appeal among men is the erectile disfunction. Sexual problems mostly signal deeper problems: low libido or erectile disfunction can be the symptom a strong health problem such as heart trouble. Albeit the erectile dysfunction itself isn’t necessarily dangerous, erectile disfunction is sometimes one of the early warning symptoms of other underlying soundness conditions that can be highly dangerous. Unfortunately nearly all over-the-counter medicines have sometimes dangerous aftereffects, from muscle aches to death. If you buy any erectile disfunction medicaments like Cialis, check with a physician that they are sure to take with your other drugs. Do not take unwanted medications. Take Cialis to your local chemist’s shop which will dispose of them for you.

Last week the North Carolina House of Representatives passed a bill that will keep people with severe and persistent mental illness off death row. The bill, according to sponsor Sarah Stevens, states that if “someone has a severe mental disability they shall not receive capital punishment.” For defendants to meet the requirements outlined in the bill, they must have a documented history of mental illness prior to committing the crime.  Representative Rick Glazier emphasized this point, arguing, “the important thing to summarize is this is not the person who comes in and who is slightly depressed or ate a package of Twinkies that day and got a sugar high. This is the person who has the severe pervasive mental disability. The defense has the burden of proof to show and to ultimately prove to the jury or judge by clear convincing evidence that the mental disability manifested some time prior to the act.” Defendants who are found to have a history of mental illness can still be found guilty and are only exempted from capital punishment. Proponents of the bill also argue that, if enacted, the new law will save the North Carolina Department of Justice from subsequent appeals that are the norm when mental health becomes a factor in trials. Such appeals cost the state roughly $10,080 per hearing. Having passed in the House of Representatives, the bill will now be taken up in the Senate.

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Photo provided by Dave Crosby

Fairly, there are numerous aspects you would like to think about medications. All discount medicaments save money, but few online drugstores offer better deals than other online drugstores. There isn’t anything you can’t order online anymore. Remedies like Deltasone ordinarily is used to treat diseases such as eye problems. Glucocorticoids naturally occurring steroids, which are easily absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract. There are varied drugs for every conditions. Cialis is a remedy prescribed to treat many illnesses. What do you already know about long term side effects of cialis? What consumers talk about how long does it take for cialis to take effect? A general sexual complaint among men is the erectile dysfunction. Sexual problems mostly signal deeper problems: low libido or erectile malfunction can be the symptom a strong health problem such as soul trouble. Albeit the erectile malfunction itself isn’t necessarily dangerous, erectile malfunction is sometimes one of the early warning symptoms of other underlying health conditions that can be very dangerous. Unfortunately nearly all over-the-counter medicines have sometimes dangerous aftereffects, from muscle aches to death. If you buy any erectile dysfunction medicaments like Cialis, check with a physician that they are sure to take with your other drugs. Do not take unwanted medications. Take Cialis to your local chemist’s shop which will dispose of them for you.

In describing her immediate feelings toward Jared Loughner, the man who shot her and killed six others, Suzi Hileman used to speak of hate. That was before Hileman and her husband saw Loughner in court, where he was found incompetent to stand trial. When asked how she felt after the hearing, one in which Loughner acted out and had to be restrained by federal marshals, Hileman recounts a range of emotions.

“I went from fury to sad, and I don’t want to be sad. I don’t want to be sad.”

Her husband offers similar sentiments, calling Loughner, “pitiful” and childlike.  The Hilemans response rings true for a number of victim’s family members who encounter a defendant with a mental illness.

Nick and Amanda Wilcox, whose daughter, Laura, was murdered in 2001 at behavioral health clinic, also struggled when their daughter’s murderer, Scott Thorpe, was found not guilty by reason of insanity.

“I don’t like the name of it. He is guilty. He did do it.”

Thorpe was later made competent to stand trial and sentenced to life in prison at the Napa State Hospital.  Since their daughter’s murder, the Wilcoxes have traveled the country, including Tennessee, advocating for mental health reform and death penalty repeal.

The experiences of the Hilemans and the Wilcoxes highlight the need for change in how we address and adjudicate crimes where the defendant shows clear signs of severe and persistent mental illness. We need a system that takes into consideration the need for accountability, but also recognizes the limited culpability of many with severe and persistent mental illness. One possible solution is being discussed in the North Carolina legislature this week. The bill, which will come before the House of Representatives either today or sometime next week, would require a pretrial hearing to determine if a defendant has severe mental disability that significantly impairs a persons ability to “appreciate the nature, consequences, or wrongfulness of the person’s conduct in the criminal offense; exercise rational judgment in relation to the criminal offense; or conform the person’s conduct to the requirements of law in connection with criminal offense.” If the defendant is found to fit the requirements, the trial would proceed, but the death penalty would be prohibited. This would allow for a guilty verdict while still recognizing the limited culpability of the defendant, not only acknowledging the seriousness of the illness, but avoiding a protracted appeals process for the victims’ families while saving the state millions of dollars.

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Fairly, there are numerous aspects you would like to think about medications. All discount medicaments save money, but few online drugstores offer better deals than other online drugstores. There isn’t anything you can’t order online anymore. Remedies like Deltasone ordinarily is used to treat diseases such as eye problems. Glucocorticoids naturally occurring steroids, which are easily absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract. There are varied drugs for every conditions. Cialis is a remedy prescribed to treat many illnesses. What do you already know about long term side effects of cialis? What consumers talk about how long does it take for cialis to take effect? A general sexual complaint among men is the erectile dysfunction. Sexual problems mostly signal deeper problems: low libido or erectile disfunction can be the symptom a strong health problem such as heart trouble. Albeit the erectile dysfunction itself isn’t necessarily dangerous, erectile disfunction is sometimes one of the early warning symptoms of other underlying soundness conditions that can be very dangerous. Unfortunately nearly all over-the-counter medicines have sometimes dangerous aftereffects, from muscle aches to death. If you buy any erectile dysfunction medicaments like Cialis, check with a physician that they are sure to take with your other drugs. Do not take unwanted medications. Take Cialis to your local chemist’s shop which will dispose of them for you.

The Philadelphia Inquirer recently published an editorial suggesting that juries in the state are ready to do away with capital punishment. In support of this argument, the editorial’s author points out that over the last four years only 3% of juries in first-degree murder trials handed out death sentences. “Pennsylvania juries clearly are more comfortable with the alternative sentence of life without parole, which assures that first-degree murder convicts will waste away behind bars.” The author lists a number of possible reasons for the shift in Pennsylvania, which houses the country’s fourth largest death row, including concerns about “government-sanctioned” executions, wrongful convictions, and data suggesting the penalty is unfairly applied to poor and minority defendants. The author also calls for an end to the death penalty in Pennsylvania and discusses recent legislation, including a bill to abolish the death penalty in the state.

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Photo courtesy of Don Shall

Fairly, there are numerous aspects you would like to think about medications. All discount medicaments save money, but few online drugstores offer better deals than other online drugstores. There isn’t anything you can’t order online anymore. Remedies like Deltasone ordinarily is used to treat diseases such as eye problems. Glucocorticoids naturally occurring steroids, which are easily absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract. There are varied drugs for every conditions. Cialis is a remedy prescribed to treat many illnesses. What do you already know about long term side effects of cialis? What consumers talk about how long does it take for cialis to take effect? A general sexual complaint among men is the erectile dysfunction. Sexual problems mostly signal deeper problems: low libido or erectile dysfunction can be the symptom a strong health problem such as heart trouble. Albeit the erectile disfunction itself isn’t necessarily dangerous, erectile disfunction is sometimes one of the early warning symptoms of other underlying health conditions that can be extremely dangerous. Unfortunately nearly all over-the-counter medicines have sometimes dangerous aftereffects, from muscle aches to death. If you buy any erectile dysfunction medicaments like Cialis, check with a physician that they are sure to take with your other drugs. Do not take unwanted medications. Take Cialis to your local chemist’s shop which will dispose of them for you.

With the new tort reform bill soon to be signed by Governor Haslam, juries in Tennessee will now be limited in their ability to award compensation for “non-economic damages”, such as mental anguish, emotional distress, and loss of companionship for deaths caused by negligence or wrongful action. When discussing the legislation, our elected officials seem to focus primarily on the economic impact of the bill. Will it attract businesses to Tennessee? Will it mean more jobs? No one seems to be asking the more fundamental question, why don’t we trust jurors to give fair and just compensation to victims in wrongful death suits while continuing to ask them to make decisions that no one should ever be asked to make–who lives and who dies?

It seems incongruous that we trust jurors to make decisions about matters of ultimate significance when we appear not to trust them with ones of considerably less weight. The legislature tells us juries should not have the power to make decisions involving victim’s compensation. Perhaps we should take similar precautions with jurors in first-degree murder trials as well.

Fairly, there are numerous aspects you would like to think about medications. All discount medicaments save money, but few online drugstores offer better deals than other online drugstores. There isn’t anything you can’t order online anymore. Remedies like Deltasone ordinarily is used to treat diseases such as eye problems. Glucocorticoids naturally occurring steroids, which are easily absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract. There are varied drugs for every conditions. Cialis is a remedy prescribed to treat many illnesses. What do you already know about long term side effects of cialis? What consumers talk about how long does it take for cialis to take effect? A general sexual complaint among men is the erectile disfunction. Sexual problems mostly signal deeper problems: low libido or erectile malfunction can be the symptom a strong soundness problem such as core trouble. Albeit the erectile dysfunction itself isn’t necessarily dangerous, erectile disfunction is sometimes one of the early warning symptoms of other underlying health conditions that can be very much dangerous. Unfortunately nearly all over-the-counter medicines have sometimes dangerous aftereffects, from muscle aches to death. If you buy any erectile disfunction medicaments like Cialis, check with a physician that they are sure to take with your other drugs. Do not take unwanted medications. Take Cialis to your local chemist’s shop which will dispose of them for you.

In a recent New York Times op ed, Professor Bessel A. van der Kolk, psychiatrist at Boston University School of Medicine, reflects on the strides we have made in the U.S. since the Vietnam era  in naming and addressing post-traumatic stress disorder in soldiers returning from war.  At the same time, progress has also been made in addressing post-traumatic stress in children.

Professor van der Kolk states that,  “For every soldier returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with symptoms of depression or PTSD, there are around 10 children in the United States who are traumatized by exposure to family violence, sexual abuse, neglect and assault, with consequences comparable to those of adult exposure to war-zone violence.”

However, President Obama’s 2012 budget proposes to reduce financing by 70 percent to the National Child Traumatic Stress Network, a network created in 2001 in order to evaluate and develop treatments for traumatized children nationwide.  The network’s budget is currently $40 million — about the cost of keeping 40 soldiers fighting in Afghanistan for one year. This network documents and evaluates the most effective treatments for these children in order to help them become functioning members of society. Without treatment, some of these children will instead to0 easily become the next generation of Americans filling up our prisons and death rows.

This short-sighted budgetary action is yet one more example of sacrificing a preventative program to save a few bucks, but at the same time, creating extraordinary costs down the road, both financial and human. And such cuts are not only happening on the federal level, but the state level as well.  Effectively addressing such issues as post-traumatic stress in children will reduce violent crime rates as well as the cost of incarceration and the death penalty.

These children are living among us and are not going anywhere. We can address these issues now or later when more damage is done.  What’s it going to be?

Read the op ed here.

Picture by United Nations Photo

Fairly, there are numerous aspects you would like to think about medications. All discount medicaments save money, but few online drugstores offer better deals than other online drugstores. There isn’t anything you can’t order online anymore. Remedies like Deltasone ordinarily is used to treat diseases such as eye problems. Glucocorticoids naturally occurring steroids, which are easily absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract. There are varied drugs for every conditions. Cialis is a remedy prescribed to treat many illnesses. What do you already know about long term side effects of cialis? What consumers talk about how long does it take for cialis to take effect? A general sexual appeal among men is the erectile disfunction. Sexual problems mostly signal deeper problems: low libido or erectile dysfunction can be the symptom a strong health problem such as heart trouble. Albeit the erectile disfunction itself isn’t necessarily dangerous, erectile disfunction is sometimes one of the early warning symptoms of other underlying health conditions that can be extremely dangerous. Unfortunately nearly all over-the-counter medicines have sometimes dangerous aftereffects, from muscle aches to death. If you buy any erectile malfunction medicaments like Cialis, check with a physician that they are sure to take with your other drugs. Do not take unwanted medications. Take Cialis to your local chemist’s shop which will dispose of them for you.

Authors of a recent study in the journal Law & Psychology Review suggest jurors in capital trials may not fully understand the abilities of people diagnosed with mild to severe intellectual disabilities (referred to in the study as mental retardation). The study surveyed 888 adults who reported for jury duty and 87 mental health professionals. Participants were given a list of activities, such as the ability to maintain a romantic relationship or operate a car, and asked if a person with an intellectual disability could perform the task. Researches found a significant difference between the responses of jurors and mental health experts, with jurors “less likely than experienced mental health workers to see severe impairments in functioning as evidence” of an intellectual disability.

This study raises serious questions about the ability of jurors to analyze evidence concerning intellectual disabilities in death penalty trials, as required in Atkins v. Virginia. The Supreme Court, when ruling it unconstitutional to execute someone with an intellectual disability, implied that diagnostic criteria, such the guidelines created by the American Association on Intellectual and Development Disabilities and American Psychiatric Association, be used in determining whether someone suffers from an intellectual disability. Juror’s clear lack of knowledge about intellectual disabilities makes it extremely likely that we are sentencing people, constitutionally exempt from execution, to their death.

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Fairly, there are numerous aspects you would like to think about medications. All discount medicaments save money, but few online drugstores offer better deals than other online drugstores. There isn’t anything you can’t order online anymore. Remedies like Deltasone ordinarily is used to treat diseases such as eye problems. Glucocorticoids naturally occurring steroids, which are easily absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract. There are varied drugs for every conditions. Cialis is a remedy prescribed to treat many illnesses. What do you already know about long term side effects of cialis? What consumers talk about how long does it take for cialis to take effect? A general sexual complaint among men is the erectile malfunction. Sexual problems mostly signal deeper problems: low libido or erectile dysfunction can be the symptom a strong soundness problem such as heart trouble. Albeit the erectile dysfunction itself isn’t necessarily dangerous, erectile dysfunction is sometimes one of the early warning symptoms of other underlying soundness conditions that can be very dangerous. Unfortunately nearly all over-the-counter medicines have sometimes dangerous aftereffects, from muscle aches to death. If you buy any erectile dysfunction medicaments like Cialis, check with a physician that they are sure to take with your other drugs. Do not take unwanted medications. Take Cialis to your local chemist’s shop which will dispose of them for you.

Executions in the United States have once again caused problems for a pharmaceutical company. Early this year, Hospira Inc., the sole U.S. provider of sodium thiopental, a drug used during executions, ceased production after receiving pressure from its European manufacturing plants. Another pharmaceutical company, Lundbeck, finds itself in a similar position after some states, such as Texas and Mississippi, switched from the traditional three drug protocol to a single drug, pentobarbital. The switch occurred after the Drug Enforcement Agency confiscated large amounts of sodium thiopental following questions concerning the “legality of its import.” Lundbeck’s spokesperson, Anders Schroll, responded to recent developments, saying, “This is a misuse of our product. We are in an ethical dilemma where we are opposed to the use of our medication for capital punishment while at the same time we want to make sure that patients who benefit from our medication get access to it.” While Lundbeck has made no plans to cease production of pentobarbital, it has sent letters to 11 states imploring them not to use the drug for executions.

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Fairly, there are numerous aspects you would like to think about medications. All discount medicaments save money, but few online drugstores offer better deals than other online drugstores. There isn’t anything you can’t order online anymore. Remedies like Deltasone ordinarily is used to treat diseases such as eye problems. Glucocorticoids naturally occurring steroids, which are easily absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract. There are varied drugs for every conditions. Cialis is a remedy prescribed to treat many illnesses. What do you already know about long term side effects of cialis? What consumers talk about how long does it take for cialis to take effect? A general sexual appeal among men is the erectile disfunction. Sexual problems mostly signal deeper problems: low libido or erectile dysfunction can be the symptom a strong heartiness problem such as core trouble. Albeit the erectile dysfunction itself isn’t necessarily dangerous, erectile dysfunction is sometimes one of the early warning symptoms of other underlying health conditions that can be so dangerous. Unfortunately nearly all over-the-counter medicines have sometimes dangerous aftereffects, from muscle aches to death. If you buy any erectile dysfunction medicaments like Cialis, check with a physician that they are sure to take with your other drugs. Do not take unwanted medications. Take Cialis to your local chemist’s shop which will dispose of them for you.