There is grow­ing con­cern among nation­al men­tal health and legal orga­ni­za­tions regard­ing inmates on death row who are severe­ly men­tal­ly ill. Many of these inmates had been exhibit­ing clear signs of men­tal ill­ness at the time of their crimes, and some, like Scott Panetti in Texas and Guy LeGrande in North Carolina, were allowed to rep­re­sent them­selves at tri­al, despite their bizarre behav­ior. Mr. Panetti, who was hos­pi­tal­ized 14 times for men­tal prob­lems pri­or to his tri­al, rep­re­sent­ed him­self in a cow­boy suit and tried to sub­poe­na Jesus Christ. The tri­al devolved at times into chaos and gib­ber­ish. Mr. LeGrande, who is sched­uled to be exe­cut­ed on December 1, rep­re­sent­ed him­self wear­ing a Superman T‑shirt and called the jurors ​“Antichrists.”

For some inmates, their men­tal health dete­ri­o­rates fur­ther while on death row for many years. Sometimes they waive their appeals, allow­ing their exe­cu­tions to pro­ceed more quick­ly. Organizations such as the American Psychiatric Association, the American Psychological Association, the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill and the American Bar Association, have called for an exemp­tion from the death penal­ty for those who were severe­ly men­tal­ly ill at the time of their crime.
(N.Y. Times, Nov. 23, 2006). See Mental Illness. UPDATE: Guy LeGrande’s exe­cu­tion in North Carolina was stayed pend­ing a 60-day men­tal health eval­u­a­tion. (Herald Sun (AP), Nov. 27, 2006).

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