Executing the Mentally Ill

This book is an excellent primer on a subject that Americans are likely to debate for the foreseeable future. --Bimonthly Review of Law Books Unlike every other western democracy in the world, capital punishment is an active part of the criminal justice system in the United States. By the end of 1992, 2,700 men and 41 women were living under the sentence of death in America. Executing the Mentally Ill examines the compelling case of Florida death-row inmate Alvin Ford, which led the U.S. Supreme Court to rule that executions of severely psychotic death-row inmates are in violation of the Eighth Amendment′s ban on cruel and unusual punishment. But how should mental illness be defined for purposes of exemption from execution? How should mental health professionals evaluate competence for execution? What happens when the professionals disagree among themselves about the defendant′s mental health? How strong should doubts about mental status be before the execution is stopped? And what should be done with the prisoner who is found incompetent? In telling the powerful story of Ford′s history, crime, mental state, and how he was handled by the criminal justice system, the authors confront questions about modern capital sentencing and the administration of the death penalty in America today. Executing the Mentally Ill provides a thought-provoking read for students and professionals in mental health, criminal justice, and legal fields, as well as policymakers and others concerned with capital punishment. "Those seeking a clearer context for the ambiguities and dilemmas that characterize the ongoing debate over exemption of the mentally ill from execution will find valuable historical and cross-cultural references here. The case of Alvin Ford provides a new perspective for measuring the gaps between the vagueness of the criteria used by mental health professionals in determining competence and its various legal definitions. . . . An underlying message for the reader is that questioning whether mentally ill or mentally retarded death-row inmates should be executed implies questioning the use of the death penalty for anyone." --Readings: A Journal of Reviews and Commentary in Mental Health "The case of Alvin Ford, a Florida man convicted of killing a police officer during a bungled armed robbery, provides a specific focus for Miller and Radelet′s wide-ranging discussion of mental illness...