Human Rights Watch

About the author: Human Rights Watch is a private nonprofit organization that promotes respect for internationally recognized civil and political rights.

By law, murder suspects who are found to be mentally incompetent are not subjected to court trials that could lead to a death sentence. However, declarations of mental incompetence are rare, and many mentally retarded suspects have been tried for murder and sentenced to death. Allowing the mentally retarded to face charges of homicide and trials that could result in execution is patently unfair. Their disabilities render them especially vulnerable to exploitation, neglect, and flawed criminal justice procedures. Some mentally retarded people, for example, want to please authority figures and will eagerly confess to crimes they did not commit. These false confessions, along with the oftentimes inadequate legal representation the mentally retarded...