Letter from Kelsey Patterson to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (© Private)

The Execution of Mentally Ill Offenders

More than 1,000 individuals had been put to death in the United States of America since executions resumed in 1977. Dozens of these people had histories of serious mental impairment, either from before the crimes for which they were convicted, or at the time of their execution. As a minimum first step towards ending the human rights violations inherent in capital punishment, the USA should be persuaded to rid itself of the execution of people with serious mental illness. With the launch of the report, USA: The execution of mentally ill offenders, Amnesty International joined the campaign for such an exemption for the mentally ill.

The content of this report is not meant to excuse or minimize the consequences of violent crime perpetrated by the mentally impaired, or to suggest that the mentally ill are overly violent. In fact, most people suffering from mental illness will never commit a violent crime. However, research has found that a mentally ill defendant may be at a heightened and unfair risk of receiving a death sentence or being wrongfully convicted, compared to defendants with low or no impairment.

In June 2002 the Supreme Court determined in the case of Atkins v. Virginia that executing a person with mental retardation amounted to "cruel and unusual punishment". The court reasoned that a mentally handicapped defendant had diminished personal culpability in the crime. Medical and legal scholars argue that the same reasoning should apply to mentally ill defendants. The National Alliance on Mental Illness believes that "persons who have committed offenses due to states of mind or behavior caused by a brain disorder require treatment, not punishment." Justice Rucker of the Indiana Supreme Court, in a dissent against the death sentence of Robert Bryan wrote, "the underlying rationale for prohibiting executions of the mentally retarded is just as compelling for prohibiting executions of the seriously mentally ill, namely evolving standards of decency."

As the sister of Thomas Provenzano said on the day of his execution, "I have to wonder: Where is the justice in killing a sick human being?" The answer is that there is none. Amnesty International joins members of the medical and legal community in denouncing executions of the mentally ill.

» Read the full report
» Read the press release
» Fact sheet on mental illness and the death penalty
» Mental Illness – 100 Executions
» Mental health terminology used in the report
» Key recommendations from the report
» Read the article from Amnesty Magazine