In ​“Forced Medication of Legally Incompetent Prisoners: A Primer,” Kathy Swedlow uses cas­es such as Singleton v. Norris to exam­ine the legal back­ground and heat­ed debate sur­round­ing the issue of invol­un­tary treat­ment of death row pris­on­ers to make them sane enough for exe­cu­tion. Swedlow notes that many of those who sup­port cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment find the hold­ing in Singleton (which allows forcible med­ica­tion) unset­tling. She con­cludes that ​“even assum­ing Singelton’s guilt, the forcible med­ica­tion and exe­cu­tion of an incom­pe­tent defen­dant … should no longer be permitted.”

(Human Rights, American Bar Association, Spring 2003) See Resources.

Citation Guide