Deck 4: The Mentally Impaired and the Death Penalty

Question 1

Before Penry v. Lynaugh's (1989) Supreme Court case was overturned in 2002, what did the court state about mentally retarded individuals?

A) That mental retardation is an issue that should only be examined as a mitigating factor
B) That mental retardation does not exclude someone to being sentenced to death
C) That mental retardation could automatically exclude someone from facing the death penalty
D) That mental retardation was an issue to be raised as a mitigating factor but should not automatically exclude someone from receiving the death penalty

Answer 1

D

Question 2

At the time of the Penry decision, the American Association of Mental Retardation (AAMR) concluded that mentally retarded individuals have deficits in cognition and moral reasoning that prevents them from:

A) Having the level of blame (or culpability) needed to impose capital punishment
B) Being sentenced to death
C) Fully understanding right from wrong
D) None of the above

Answer 2

A

Question 3

What Supreme Court case overturned the Penry decision and concluded that death is not a suitable punishment for a mentally retarded criminal?

A) Penry v. Lynaugh (1989)
B) Singleton v. Norris (2003)
C) Atkins v. Virginia (2002)
D) Tennard v. Dretke (2004)

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Retribution, which is something done to an offender as payback or vengeance for a crime or act he or she committed, or a form of balancing scales in response of wrongdoing, is often referred to as what?

A) The rotten apple syndrome
B) Deterrence
C) Just deserts
D) All of the above

Question 5

What case ruled that it was not a violation of the 8^th amendment to execute an individual who became incompetent while on death row and was rendered competent through forced medication?

A) Stanford v. Kentucky
B) Singleton v. Norris
C) Tennard v. Dretke
D) Locket v. Ohio

Question 6

The American Association of Individuals with Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD) changed the term "mental retardation" to _______, which seemed to be a less stigmatizing term.

A) Intellectual disability
B) Mental illness
C) Both a and b
D) None of the above

Question 7

What does malingering mean?

A) Exhibiting an intellectual disability
B) Being insane
C) Being sane
D) Faking mental illness

Question 8

According to the text, mental illness relies more heavily on ________diagnoses.

A) Objective
B) Subjective
C) Both a and b
D) None of the above

Question 9

Mental retardation is most often found through objective tests of ______ and ______ functioning.

A) Intellectual; social
B) Practical; social
C) Intellectual; adaptive
D) All of the above

Question 10

The Court referenced failure to achieve penological goals for the death penalty for insane individuals. They included

A) Deterrence
B) Retribution
C) Both a and b
D) None of the above

Question 11

What is general deterrence?

A) Punishment meant to show lawyers they were wrong
B) Punishment meant to prevent a particular person from committing crime
C) Punishment that aims at police officers
D) Punishment that discourages all people from engaging in criminal activity

Question 12

What is specific deterrence?

A) Punishment that discourages all people from engaging in criminal activity
B) Punishment meant to show lawyers they were wrong
C) Punishment that aims at all criminal justice officials
D) Punishment meant to prevent a particular person from engaging in future criminal behavior

Question 13

Which term embodies the "eye for an eye" and "tooth for a tooth" approach?

A) Humanity
B) Theology
C) Retribution
D) Deterrence

Question 14

The conceptual domain in the DSM-5 includes skills in:

A) Reading
B) Writing
C) Memory
D) All of the above

Question 15

The practical domain centers on self-management areas such as:

A) Job responsibilities
B) Personal care
C) Being organized
D) All of the above

Question 16

The Supreme Court of the United States has struggled with issues surrounding who should be eligible for the death penalty since its reinstatement in 1976?

Question 17

In Atkins v. Virginia, the Court was not persuaded that the execution of a mentally retarded criminal would advance the deterrent or the retributive purpose of the death penalty.

Question 18

Most states have set a fundamental level of 70 as the minimum IQ score for death penalty consideration.

Question 19

It is left to the states to determine what IQ is required for a mentally retarded person to be considered as having an intellectual disability.

Question 20

States have varied widely in the way they define mental retardation or intellectual disability and in the process by which it is to be determined. At a fundamental level, most states have set 50 as the minimum IQ score for death penalty consideration.

Question 21

For all states, the onset age of being diagnosed as mentally retarded is age 18.

Question 22

In the United States, the age of onset is before the age of 18. There must be evidence of disability during that developmental period.

Question 23

Since there are different types of exams that may be used to determine an individual's IQ, a person may be spared or could face execution because of a slight point differential.

Question 24

Mental illness is typically more treatable than mental retardation, which could essentially make the mentally ill more responsible.

Question 25

Courts and legislatures agree that mental retardation is a mitigating circumstance.

Question 26

A person can be mentally ill but not legally insane.

Question 27

The Court in Ford v. Wainwright said an insane person has the mental capacity for the type of preparation that is necessary to secure peace for him or herself if he or she is to receive the death penalty sentence.

Question 28

An inmate can be given medication to restore himself or herself for competency for his or her execution.

Question 29

Inmates must have a certain level of rational understanding of their circumstances in order for punishment for the death penalty to serve its penological goals.

Question 30

A defendant who is diagnosed as mentally retarded may never be executed, regardless of the severity or nature of the crimes.