- by Mary Shaw
www.OpEdNews.com
On May 13, the state of Connecticut engaged in state- sponsored
suicide. On that fateful day, convicted serial killer Michael Ross
died by lethal injection upon his request. Ross vehemently fought
off attempts by public defenders and his own family members to
appeal his case and block his execution. Ross got his death wish.
Some may regard this as an efficient way to deal with Ross.
After all, he had confessed to the crimes of which he was accused,
and he spared the state the expense of a potentially lengthy appeals
process. However, aside from the usual arguments by death penalty
opponents, in this case the state may have failed to adequately
consider Ross's mental state.
Psychiatric evaluations gave mixed results. Ultimately, a superior
court judge pronounced him competent despite compelling evidence to
the contrary, and Ross was hastily put to death.
Do we really want to be so quick to risk erring on the side of
death?
The execution of a person with a mental illness is clearly
prohibited by international law. In April 2000, the UN Commission on
Human Rights urged all states that maintain the death penalty "not
to impose it on a person suffering from any form of mental
disorder."
Despite this international convention, however, in recent years
Texas, Florida, Alabama, and Missouri have executed convicts who had
been diagnosed with mental illness. Now, by rushing to execute
Michael Ross, Connecticut may have joined this dark league.
In 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that it is unconstitutional to
execute the mentally retarded. Then, on March 1, 2005, it banned the
execution of juvenile offenders who were under 18 when they
committed their crimes. I hope that someday it will also ban the
execution of the mentally ill.
If we are to consider ourselves to be a culture of life, a culture
of decency, and a culture of morality, we must progress beyond this
culture of revenge and this culture of executing the ill whom we
somehow judge to be disposable. If we get there, perhaps the U.S.
can regain some respect amongst our European counterparts, most of
whom have long since abolished the death penalty in their countries
and view our rentionist policies as backward and barbaric.
Human Rights Watch has estimated that as many as 10 percent of death
row inmates suffer from a serious mental illness.
The organization stated in a 2003 report that "mental illnesses are
very different disorders than mental retardation, but they still may
cause lapses in judgment, inappropriate or dangerous behavior, and
interfere with a person's ability to think clearly and make sound
decisions.
It is as cruel and senseless to execute those who are mentally ill
as it is to execute those with mental retardation."
Most of the world's democracies, and even some dictatorships, agree.
A civilized society should be committed to treating its mentally
ill, not executing them.
-----
Mary Shaw is a Philadelphia-based writer and activist. She currently
serves as Philadelphia Area Coordinator for Amnesty International,
and her views on politics, human rights, and social justice issues
have appeared in numerous online forums and in newspapers and
magazines worldwide. E-mail mary@maryshawonline.com.
Read more of Mary's writing in the archive:
http://www.opednews.com/archivesShawMary.htm
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