The Death Penalty and Intellectual Disability (Part 6)

by | Jan 19, 2022 | Blog, Criminal Law, Monmouth County, New Jersey, Ocean County

Justice Sotomayor continued in relevant part: Three more States (totaling 9) similarly impose no rigid age-of-onset cutoff and require onset “during the developmental period,” indicating flexibility and suggesting incorporation of the medical consensus. Ga. Code Ann. §17–7–131(a)(2) (2020); Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. §532.130(2) (West 2016); S. C. Code Ann. §16–3–20(C)(b)(10) (2015); see also Woodall v. Commonwealth, 563 S. W. 3d 1, 7 (Ky. 2018) (emphasizing that in Kentucky, “prevailing medical standards should always take precedence in a court’s determination”).

Two more, Montana and Wyoming (totaling 11), have not adopted any rigid definition of intellectual disability in the criminal context. Twenty-three additional States (totaling 34) have abolished the death penalty, as has the District of Columbia. See Roper v. Simmons, 543 U. S. 551, 574 (2005) (teaching that States that have abandoned capital punishment should be considered as part of the consensus against consideration bearing on a determination of consensus,” id., at 717; the “consistency of the direction of change,” ibid., also supports Coonce’s position. In the last five years, five States (Colorado, Delaware, New Hampshire, Virginia, and Washington) have abolished the death penalty. Two more States (totaling 36), Oregon and Pennsylvania, have suspended executions. See Hall, 572 U. S., at 716 (counting “Oregon, which has suspended the death penalty,” as part of consensus against rigid 70-IQ rule).

Four States’ courts of last resort have mentioned an age-18 onset requirement in the Atkins context, but relied on at least one medical definition that subsequently has changed. State v. Ford, 158 Ohio St. 3d 139, 146–148, 2019-Ohio-4539, 140 N. E. 3d 616, 647 (relying on AAIDD and APA standards in effect at the time); Ex parte Lane, 286 So. 3d 61, 63 (Ala. 2018) (same); Chase v. State, 171 So. 3d 463, 470 (Miss. 2015) (same); Ex parte Briseno, 135 S. W. 3d 1, 7 (Tex. Crim. App. 2004) (same), abrogated in part by Moore, 581 U. S., at ___. In addition, Nevada’s highest court has defined the state legislature’s flexible age-of-onset requirement (“during the developmental period,” Nev. Rev. Stat. §174.098(7) (2017)) to require age-18 onset, again relying on AAIDD and APA definitions that are now outdated. Ybarra v. State, 127 Nev. 47, 53–54, 57–58, 247 P. 3d 269, 273–274, 276 (2011).

As of March of 2019, the death penalty was legal in 11 states that had not used it in over a decade. Those states were California, New Hampshire, Kansas, Wyoming, Colorado, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Montana, Nevada, North Carolina, and Kentucky. The last federal execution occurred in 2003. The United States military has not carried out an execution since 1961.

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