“He did a terrible thing, but he was sick. Where is the compassion?
Is this the best our society can do?”
- Yvonne Panetti, mother of Scott Panetti,
sentenced to death in Texas despite his long, documented history of paranoid schizophrenia
Mental Illness and the Death Penalty in Texas
In 1986, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the case of Ford v. Wainwright that it is unconstitutional to execute someone who does not understand the reason for, or the reality of, his or her punishment. The Ford decision left the determination of competency for execution up to each state, however. It did not address whether it is constitutional to impose a death sentence on someone with a severe and persistent mental illness, such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. And because the decision has been subject to interpretation, it has not prevented the execution of scores of severely mentally ill offenders.
While state and federal courts have wrangled with issues of competency and sanity, at least 25 individuals with documented histories of paranoid schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and other persistent and severe mental illnesses have been executed by the State of Texas. Countless others continue to languish on death row, waiting to be found “competent to be executed.” During this same time period, state funding for mental healthcare has been grossly inadequate to meet the needs of the population, and persons suffering from severe mental disorders increasingly have been placed in jails or prisons rather than treatment facilities. Many of those sentenced to death and executed in Texas had sought treatment before the commission of their crimes, but were denied long-term care. In September 2007, TCADP launched a postcard campaign calling for a prohibition on the death penalty for severely mentally ill offenders and for increased funding for mental healthcare in the state of Texas. We aim to gather signatures from thousands of Texans and will use the postcards to build a network of supporters who can be mobilized around cases and other relevant aspects of this issue. Anyone who signs can keep the top half of the card and mail the bottom half back to TCADP. Please contact Kristin at khoule@tcadp.org or 512-441-1808 to request postcards!
Check out more ideas for action on this issue.
For more information on this topic, please visit the Prevention Not Punishment blog, which contains up-to-date developments, as well as links to publications, organizations, and other resources.
Background information on the intersection of mental illness and the death penalty is available from the American Bar Association.