Evaluating Intellectual Disability: Clinical Assessments in Atkins Cases

Authors

James W. Ellis
Caroline Everington
Ann M. Delpha

Abstract

The intersection of intellectual disability and the death penalty is now clearly established Both under the US. Supreme Court's constitutional decisions and under the terms of many state statutes, individual defendants who have that disability cannot be sentenced to death or executed. It now falls to trial, appellate, and post-conviction courts to determine which individual criminal defendants are entitled to the law's protection.

This Article attempts to assist judges in performing that task. After a brief discussion of the Supreme Court's decisions in Atkins v. Virginia, Hall v. Florida, and Moore v. Texas, it analyzes the component parts and terminology of the clinical definition of intellectual disability. It then offers more detailed discussion of a number of the clinical issues that arise frequently in adjudicating these cases. For each of these issues, the Article's text and the accompanying notes attempt to provide judges with a thorough survey of the relevant clinical literature, and an explanation of the terminology used by clinical professionals. Our purpose is to help those judges to become more knowledgeable consumers of the clinical reports and expert testimony presented to them in individual cases, and to help them reach decisions that are consistent with what the clinical literature reveals about the nature of intellectual disability and best professional practices in the diagnostic process.

Recommended Citation

Ellis, James W.; Everington, Caroline; and Delpha, Ann M. (2018) "Evaluating Intellectual Disability: Clinical Assessments in Atkins Cases," Hofstra Law Review: Vol. 46: Iss. 4, Article 8.
Available at: https://scholarlycommons.law.hofstra.edu/hlr/vol46/iss4/8