Warren Lee Hill was set to be put to death on July 19th by the State of Georgia . Albany Herald reported that the execution did not happen because his lawyer came with an injunction.This injunction was regarding the new law, which stated the new drug used to execute prisoners is unknown to the public or defendant; and if it is unknown then the inmates attorney is able to challenge the execution. This injunction bought his lawyer time to bulk up his real reason for stopping the execution, which was Mr Hill's mental state of mind. Hill's lawyer argues that it is unjustifiable to execute a person that is mentally disabled and have little to no control over their actions.
Hill was sentenced to life in prison in 1986, for shooting his then girlfriend eleven times and killing her. Hill was again on trial in 1990, as he was sentenced to death by execution, for killing his cellmate in his sleep with a board. The first incident in my opinion should have been a reason to report his mental state and send him to a mental hospital rather than a prison. Since this did happen in 1986 they might not have had the facilities to house specific inmates, but in 2013 they should take this problem into consideration.
Huffington Post reported, Mr.Hill was reported to only have an IQ of 70 which would be mentally challenged on a common scale.
The Supreme Court made it illegal to sentence mentally challenged people to death by injection but left the choice up to the states to determine which inmates are eligible for this exception. In my opinion there should be requirements for every state that are agreed upon by all the states with requirements made by the Supreme Court and Intellectual Disabilities Committee.
The President’s Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities was founded in 1966 by President Lyndon Johnson with hopes of giving extra efforts to support mental disabilities community, while determining people intellectual disabilities.
The alternative that should be brought to the attention of the judicial system is that these mentally disabled inmates should have a separate facility and form of punishment for their actions. These facilities would be used to teach the inmates how to prevent themselves from getting into situations as well as getting them the right medical help to assist their mental condition and let them live a life progressing. In the current justice system the inmates are punished and are not made aware of their wrong doings; this causes a risk of them repeating the same mistakes, I believe putting them to death is not helpful because you are punishing a person who knows not of their wrong doings.
I believe that the advocate groups should raise money and get support from our government to make a tax to build facilities to help these inmates learn while being punished with their mental disabilities. These facilities would be beneficial to all parties. Inmates families would get to stay in contact and see them progress from their mistakes in life and the Justice system would not have to worry about cases like Mr.Hill's, because he would not have been housed with the ability to commit such a crime.
The washington post reported, " The average inmate in minimum-security federal prison costs $21,000 each year." This projects that it will be a financial hardship for the government but I feel that it should be taken into consideration, because of the positive aspects that can result from these facilities.
There should always be punishment for a crime committed, but different mental states should have equal consequences. Just as you do not punish a child for an adult crime, there should be alternatives for adults with child mindsets that commit adult criminal activity.
http://www.walb.com/story/23434787/group-aims-to-change-part-of-ga-death-penalty-law
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/16/warren-hill-clemency_n_1676205.html
http://www.albanyherald.com/news/2013/aug/26/ga-supreme-court-to-hear-warren-lee-hill-appeal/
No comments:
Post a Comment