Execution of the mentally handicapped: Should it be permitted?

Whether or not the state should be allowed to execute an inmate that they think is mentally ill has been a controversy for many decades. In many cases, people who have been executed were mentally ill, while others may have faked it in hope to be pardoned for their crimes. The American Psychiatric Association and the American Bar Association believe the state should not be allowed to execute the mentally ill. On Friday, November 24, 2006 , Guy Tobias LeGrande, a forty-seven year old male, had been given the death penalty. However, three days later on Monday, November 27, a judge ordered the execution delayed for sixty days. LeGrande had been found guilty for the murder of Ellen Munford in 1993. The execution was delayed because the judge wanted psychiatrists to evaluate LeGrande (and they will have forty-five days to do so), since many believe he is mentally ill. Those who believe LeGrande is mentally ill include opponents of the death penalty. These people also believe the inmate should never have been allowed to represent himself. However, prosecutors argue that LeGrande had simply been putting on an act in the courtroom. A Duke University law professor by the name of James Coleman says that a psychiatrist who had already examined LeGrande claims he is mentally ill. However, current district attorney Michael Parker claims that transcripts from the 1996 trial conclude that LeGrande indeed knew what he was doing, and that his outburst came only at the end of the trial because of the verdict.


The United States is one of the only two countries in the world to permit the execution of the mentally handicapped. By the year 1989, only Georgia and Maryland prohibited this type of execution. This has changed within the past decade. Now, there are thirty-one states that permit the death penalty. Of these, thirteen prohibit the execution of people with mental disabilities. Six more have been considering prohibiting the execution of such people. The United States Supreme Court is still not sure whether or not the execution of mentally handicapped people violates the 8th Amendment of the Constitution, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment.