Entries tagged with “Posttraumatic Stress Disorder”
Policy Issues
Arbitrariness
,Costs
,Deterrence
,Innocence
,Intellectual Disability
,Mental Illness
,Race
,Representation
,Feb 21, 2022
56 Prosecutors Issue Joint Statement Calling for End of ‘Broken’ Death Penalty
Calling capital punishment in the U.S. “broken,” 56 elected prosecutors from across the country have issued a joint statement urging systemic changes to end the death penalty nationwide. As an initial step, the prosecutors pledged to not seek the death penalty “against people with intellectual disabilities, post-traumatic stress disorder, histories of traumatic brain injury, or other intellectual or cognitive challenges that diminish their ability to fully understand and regulate their own…
Policy Issues
Mental Illness
,Military
,Nov 12, 2018
A Veterans Day Review: Recent Cases Highlight Concerns About Veterans and the Death Penalty
As Americans become increasingly aware of the role of combat trauma in the development of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and other mental health disorders, the shift in public perceptions towards veterans suffering from these disorders has played out in the courts in recent death penalty cases. In 2018, at least four military veterans facing death sentences have instead been sentenced to life in prison, and another two veterans won relief in their death-penalty cases. One military…
Policy Issues
Mental Illness
,Clemency
,Upcoming Executions
,Aug 23, 2021
Nevada Death-Row Prisoner Who Faced July Execution Date Files Application to Commute Death Sentence
A Nevada death-row prisoner has asked for a clemency hearing to present new evidence of significant brain damage and post-traumatic stress disorder caused by military service and childhood…
Policy Issues
Intellectual Disability
,Juveniles
,Mental Illness
,Public Opinion
,Mar 01, 2022
New Poll Finds Bipartisan Opposition to Use of the Death Penalty as It is Actually Administered
A new national poll has found that bipartisan majorities of Americans oppose seeking the death penalty against vulnerable groups of defendants who historically have been disproportionately subjected to its…
Policy Issues
Intellectual Disability
,Mental Illness
,Public Opinion
,Feb 03, 2022
New Poll: Voters Overwhelmingly Oppose Las Vegas DA Seeking the Death Penalty Against Vulnerable and Impaired Persons
Likely voters in Clark County, Nevada overwhelmingly oppose the use of capital punishment against broad categories of vulnerable and impaired persons whom county prosecutors have been trying to execute, a new poll released by Vegas Watch on January 27, 2022…
Policy Issues
Mental Illness
,Representation
,Military
,Aug 07, 2018
Two Servicemen Suffering From Brain Trauma, PTSD Win Death-Penalty Relief
Two servicemen — one a former airman on the U.S. military death row, another a decorated Vietnam veteran sentenced to death in Pennsylvania—have won relief from their capital convictions or death…
Policy Issues
Mental Illness
,United States Supreme Court
,Feb 27, 2020
U.S. Supreme Court Rules that Arizona Man Unconstitutionally Sentenced to Death Is Not Entitled to Jury Resentencing
A divided U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that James McKinney (pictured), an Arizona death-row prisoner who was unconstitutionally sentenced to death by a trial judge who did not consider mitigating evidence relating to his severe Posttraumatic Stress Disorder from relentless childhood abuse, is not entitled to a jury trial to determine his sentence. On February 25, 2020, in a 5 – 4 opinion authored by Justice Brett Kavanaugh, the Court upheld the…