Commentary on Scott Panetti​’s sched­uled exe­cu­tion on December 3 in Texas:

“By any rea­son­able stan­dard — not to men­tion the find­ings of mul­ti­ple men­tal-health experts over the years — Mr. Panetti is men­tal­ly incompetent…A civ­i­lized soci­ety should not be in the busi­ness of exe­cut­ing any­body. But it cer­tain­ly can­not pre­tend to be adher­ing to any moral­ly accept­able stan­dard of cul­pa­bil­i­ty if it kills some­one like Scott Panetti.”
-N.Y. Times, Nov. 23, 2014

“In a 1986 deci­sion, the Supreme Court said that exe­cut­ing the insane served no pur­pose and would be ​‘sav­age and inhu­mane.’ Today, no words could bet­ter describe the state’s plans to strap Panetti to a gur­ney and end his tor­tured life.”
-Dallas Morning News, Nov. 23, 2014

“[W]e believe that exe­cut­ing a per­son as severe­ly and per­sis­tent­ly ill as Scott Panetti would only com­pound the orig­i­nal tragedy, rep­re­sent a pro­found injus­tice, and serve no use­ful ret­ribu­tive or pre­ven­tive pur­pose.”
-National Alliance on Mental Illness, Nov. 17, 2014

“The European Union strong­ly believes that the exe­cu­tion of per­sons suf­fer­ing from a men­tal dis­or­der is con­trary to wide­ly accept­ed human rights norms and is in con­tra­dic­tion to the min­i­mum stan­dards of human rights set forth in sev­er­al inter­na­tion­al human rights instru­ments, as well as being pro­hib­it­ed by the US Constitution.”
-European Union, Nov. 14, 2014

(Editorial, ​“Will Texas Kill an Insane Man?,” New York Times, November 23, 2014; Editorial, ​“Texas’ plans to exe­cute men­tal­ly ill Scott Panetti aren’t fit­ting for a civ­i­lized soci­ety,” Dallas Morning News, November 23, 2014; European Union, Letter in sup­port of clemen­cy for Scott Panetti, November 14, 2014; National Alliance on Mental Illness, Letter in sup­port of clemen­cy for Scott Panetti, November 17, 2014.) See Texas Defender Service’s resources on Panetti. See Mental Illness and New Voices. Watch a video (see side­bar) about Panetti’s life and family.

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