The Importance Of Capital Crime In The United States

As a whole, literature on the topic of mental illness in our country and specifically in our criminal justice system had a reoccurring theme. There are millions of individuals who suffer from mental illness but are improperly being handled through the criminal justice system. These individuals are deemed criminal just by their acts and their mental health state is not overly examine. Jails and prisons are being overcrowded. State prisons and jails are overpopulated anywhere from 15 to 32% (Spending Money in All the Wrong Places: Jails & Prisons).

In his memoir Just Mercy, Bryan Stevenson recounts the stories of several clients whose mental illness was ignored during their trial. Some had intellectual disabilities, others were dealing with the aftermath of severe trauma, but each one was changed in some way. Whether their reasoning had been altered or they simply did not understand what was happening, any crime they committed was closely tied to their mental state. Logically, a major detail like the defendant’s thought process and motivation behind the crime would have been discussed, but this was not the case. Any evidence of their illness was forgotten about or outright ignored by both the prosecution and the defense. When considering each crime with their mental illness in mind, sentencing the defendant to death row is needlessly cruel. Their avoidance of the topic shows a complete failure to understand how important it can be to an individual’s decision-making abilities.

This is unacceptable and a major issue in a broken criminal justice system. Diagnosed mentally ill patients should not be in prison, they need help that only a mental health facility can offer them. There is a difference between being mentally ill and being a criminal. It is no secret that the state has used the prison system as a dumping ground for the mentally ill. Common sense would lead an observer to conclude that a prison environment is not the best place for a person who is suffering from mental illness.

This article concerns a Texas man named Scott Panetti who committed murder by shooting his wife’s parents. Scott Panetti was diagnosed with schizophrenia about 14 years prior to the shootings, and was set to receive a lethal injection; however, the execution was stop do to “the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals acknowledges the legal complexity of putting a mentally ill inmate to death.” The court explains that they had to sort out legal issues that are involved with mental instability.

Mental illnesses are extremely pricy and dangerous. The staff has to be extra cautions with mentally disabled prisoners because they are more dangerous. The prison system does not have enough money to be able to maintain high-risk prisoners. “The average cost of keeping an older inmate incarcerated is about $69,000 a year”(Regan) it’s an outrageous amount of money. A Tennessee State prison gave Dr. Regan, Alderson, and Dr. William Regan gave data on older inmates who had mental illnesses. The study focused on the population and their mental disorder and the crime committed. 671 prisoners where tested in the study and 109 people where diagnosed with a mental illness: Out of the 109 people with a mental disorder only 13% where women and 87% where men. The most common crime for both genders with a mental disorder was murder. Women who committed murder suffered from depression illness. Men who committed crime in their older age committed sex crimes and where diagnosed with dementia. Our prisons are not equipped to be able to handle mentally disable prisoners. Mentally disorder people need to be in a mental house that can help them. It is not right to incarcerate someone who is sick.

The mentally ill are self-medicating to get a sense or normalcy which can cause them to eventual commit minor crime where thy end up in prison suffering through the withdraw symptoms of the drugs they were using to self-medicate their mental illness. Those who do end up behind prison seem to get worse rather than better because when combining the withdraw of the drugs with the environment their mental state is not where it could be. If they where in a place that specialized in mental illness rather than behind a prison cell it seems that the mental ill could thrive rather than be left alone to try to figure out what is going on in their own

The criminal justice systems in Bolivia and the United States have different structures with some similarities. I was born in La Paz Bolivia and we will be taking a look into Bolivia and the U.S’s governmental and criminal justice systems. Bolivia is a republic with a democratic government. The U.S. also has a democratic government. The Napoleonic code (civil code) and Spanish law compose Bolivia’s legal system, whereas the US is based on common law. The U.S. and Bolivia may have their similarities and differences, but one key difference is the instability of the Bolivian nation throughout its history, while the US has shown to be more stable as a nation (except for the civil war). Throughout this paper, we will be comparing and

Today in the United States some would agree that society is overwhelmed with high crime rates and overcrowded prison systems that are full of repeat offenders. The idea of capital punishment could be the solution to some of those problems. Over the years capital punishment has been discussed among political figures in the United States but there has been no clear and permanent decision. Capital punishment here in the United States is a controversial issue some people would argue that it is wrong and inhumane. The United States does not violate its Constitution with the use of capital punishment with the participation of a physician it is ethical and the Bible supports capital punishment.

Opponents of capital punishment claim that a prisoner's isolation and uncertainty over his or her fate constitute a form of mental cruelty and that especially long-time death row inmates are liable to become mentally ill, if they are not already. This is referred to as the death row phenomenon.

Let’s consider is the mental health of the offender, does the offender have an intellectual disability? Is an offender who doesn’t understand what they’ve done, and why it was wrong as deserving of being executed as another offender who is completely aware of what they’ve done? Insanity is a mental illness when the individual afflicted is so out of touch with reality that they can’t differentiate right from wrong and can’t understand their punishment or the purpose of it ("Mental Health and the Death Penalty | Capital Punishment in Context," n.d.) An individual such as this would not understand the consequences of their behavior and therefore capital punishment is not an effective deterrent for people with significantly poor mental

The United States of America is a powerful nation built upon laws and justice; however, without these laws, the nation would fall apart and chaos would result. For example, it is crucial for citizens to respect the court’s decisions in public trials. Unfortunately, no system is flawless and some guilty people are sent free; however, the guilt those people feel is justice itself. Although some people may argue immoral people do not feel guilt, society’s reception of these immoral people serves as justice. Therefore, citizens of the United States of America should not have the right to take justice into their own hands.

Capital punishment; these two words have so much power all around the world. When these words are first spoken the primary thought that encompasses the definition would be ‘death penalty’. There are various groups who seek to diminish capital punishment, while there are also certain groups who seek to further capital punishment. The simple fact is that states have the power to override the idea or allow the punishment to be pursued. Garland explains the power that the government has over states is, “limited power of the U.S. federal government to impose laws on the states, the interplay between state politics and federal law, and the role of the U.S. Supreme Court in interpreting the Constitution.” (1). Therefore, the federal

Just as any other organ of the body can get sick and damaged, the brain can too. Mental illnesses can be chronic and cause severe, life changing consequences. Serious mental illness diagnoses, such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, can involve psychosis- losing touch with reality in the form of hallucinations- and personality swings. When untreated, serious mental illness can cloud the judgement of the affected person and cause them to act in a way they normally would not. Seriously mentally ill (SMI) people who have committed a crime cannot escape the justice system but cannot be held fully accountable for their actions. Whether to put SMI criminals in prison or psychiatric hospitals is a prominent question that has caused much debate.

Legally a mentally unfit person who is awaiting execution in today’s penal system does not have the right to refuse psychiatric treatment (drugs) that would restore their competency. In todays society we as free Americans share certain liberties, such as the right to pick and choose our physicians, course of treatment and on the other hand the refusal of those same treatments. The state must be able to restore competency to an incompetent defendant so that he may stand trial or be executed; if not the prisoner would remain in the system indefinitely (Swedlow, n.d.). Ethically, if it’s possible to restore their competency for the defendant to stand trial, I would be in support of this. As far as execution if the defendant has been through the legal system, sentenced to death and the appeal process has progressed to its limit, do we really want to medicate someone for a period of time just so they will understand their impending death? Ethically it seems that the punishment has been accessed and should be carried out.

Throughout history, people with mental disorders have been treated differently than those who do not. Those with mental illnesses were thought to be possessed by evil spirits and were put in prisons and special institutions to separate them from society. Furthermore, mental disorders, specifically schizophrenia, are a contributing factor to crime. Although someone with a mental illness may have lost touch with reality, they are still responsible with their actions, and possibly, the crimes they commit. Therefore, even though an individual may have a mental disorder, they should not be exempt from the death penalty (Mental Disorders 1 and 2).