Get Executing The Vulnerable Among Us: An Analysis Of Mental Capacity, Mental Illness

How to support someone with a mental health problem Talking about mental health. ... Set time aside with no distractions. ... Let them share as much or as little as they want to. ... Don't try to diagnose or second guess their feelings. ... Keep questions open ended. ... Talk about self-care. ... Listen carefully to what they tell you.

There is no categorical ban on the execution of people with mental illness. A small number of states have laws that create an exemption for some seriously mentally ill defendants.

The problem is not a small one. A leading mental health group, Mental Health America, estimates that five to ten percent of all death row inmates suffer from a severe mental illness.

It is unconstitutional to impose the death penalty upon individuals with intellectual disability. But poor legal representation and onerous evidentiary requirements still result in death sentences and executions of intellectually disabled defendants.

Offenders under the age of 18 are exempt from the death penalty. Developments in brain science have renewed debate about whether young adults should also be excluded.

The U.S. Supreme Court has said a defendant's mental illness makes him or her less morally culpability and must be taken into consideration as an important reason to spare his or her life.

ing to some psychiatrists, the results of being confined to death row for an extended period of time, including the effects of knowing one will be killed and the living conditions, can fuel delusions and suicidal tendencies in an individual and can cause insanity in a form that is dangerous.