Intellectually disabled convicts are being executed despite some judges saying it is cruel and unusual punishment, reports New Scientist.
A group of researchers, who specialize in psychometric testing and intellectual disabilities, found that some courts discard “key scientific facts surrounding IQ testing,” according to the article.
First, the courts are ignoring the margin of error inherent in IQ testing. Second, “inmates are being condemned to death by inflated scores obtained by using older intelligent tests,” the researchers say.
To demonstrate legally that someone is intellectually disabled, the person must have an IQ of less than 70, and have problems reading, writing, and functioning in society. These problems had to be present before the age of 18.
After the U.S. Supreme Court weighed in on the issue, its decision did not stipulate how to measure or decide an inmate’s IQ, leaving the decision to individual states.
Lawyers for dozens of condemned men in several states say they have clients who are intellectually disabled and should have their sentences commuted to life imprisonment, Aldhous reports.
The Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities is developing a manual on measuring intellectual disability, said Edward Polloway, the organization’s co-chair. “It will take some of the subjectivity out of such decisions,” said Polloway.
According to the article, some legal experts, including North Carolina Judge Kevin Foley, who is working on a book about intellectual disabilities and the death penalty, are not convinced courts will know what to do with the information in the manual.
