Review and Concept Paper: Excluding Intellectually Disabled Offenders from Execution. The Continuing Journey to Implement Atkins: Peggy M. Tobolowsky. Carolina Academic Press, 2014. and Intellectual Disability. Civil and Criminal Forensic Issues: Michael Chafetz. Oxford University Press, 2015
Criminal Law Bulletin, Vol. 52 No. 6 (2016)
18 Pages Posted: 29 Dec 2016
Date Written: December 27, 2016
Abstract
This book review examines two books on legal and psychological issues regarding intellectual disability which were published in the year following the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Freddie Lee Hall v. Florida, a decision which follows a line of Supreme Court cases seeking to clarify and constitutionally apply the legal exemption from execution the Court provided for persons with intellectual disability (ID, formerly retardation) in Atkins v. Virginia. The book, Excluding Intellectually Disabled Offenders From Execution. The Continuing Journey to Implement Atkins: Peggy M. Tobolowsky published in 2014 takes a legal and policy focus on intellectual disability, and the book, Intellectual Disability. Civil and Criminal Forensic Issues: Michael Chafetz published in 2015 takes a psychological, civil and criminal forensic focus. Neither of the books attempts to ignore the nexus of law, policy and science, but they aim at different audiences while achieving this connection between law and psychology. Reviewing the books together helps to show the similarities and differences.
Keywords: Intellectual Disability, Death Penalty
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