Summary: The Ruling

Bersstein, D.A., Roy, E.J., Srull, T.K. and Wickens, C.D. (1991). Psychology. 2nd Edition. Boston: Houston Mifflin Company.

Holding: yes the 8th amendment does protect mentally retarded criminals from capital punishment as cruel and unusual.

The United States, after the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty since 1976 the state of Texas is responsible for over a third of executions in the country. However, Moore v. Texas care required grudging and unique approach because it involved a crime committed by a mentally disabled person. Because there Is a claim that the defendant has an intellectual disability the court should consider its influence on a person’s decision.

IQ testing is often criticized. For example, many believe that the tests are culturally biased. Results may depend as much on motivation and other factors as on innate intelligence.

Officials and the judge failed to look closely at George’s case and did not grant him mercy despite his mental illness. Officials clearly knew that the symptoms George was experiencing were not normal, but they failed to give him another chance. However, Stevenson worked hard to try to convince judges to grant him a new trial, and finally, he was able to gain a favorable trial. Although George’s conviction was overturned for the time being, the fact that George was convicted of capital murder so easily, proves to show that our carceral system is flawed. Individuals who have been convicted of crimes and who also suffer from mental illnesses, are imprisoned for being poor and mentally ill, because they are unable to receive proper treatment.

Courts and the jurors serving in them need to be cautious when listening to expert testimony given, regarding the mental capabilities or sanity of an individual. This is because it is impossible to go into the mind of the defendant and know for a fact that they are mentally capable, which causes any assessment to be in part guesswork. Also the definition of what the judiciary has considered mentally insane has changed through time and in different legal systems. I argue that expert testimony in cases regarding mental sanity is not uniform and varies in different instances. As a society should be trying to make the definitions and assessment of sanity the uniform in all of the states and United States federal courts for persons to be tried

Just 15 years ago, the Supreme Court ruled in Atkins v. Virginia that executing mentally disabled or ill individuals violates the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment. Although this is the law of the land, America’s inherent

We have gathered data and information for the findings in this report. We used findings from the American Psychological Association. The discoveries were very educational and eye-opening for us. We have put forth our best effort and we hope it proves beneficial for you and anyone who reads it.

The defense allows those who are mentally unstable to be disciplined or treated in an apposite manner. Critics of the insanity defense may find the acquittal of mentally unstable persons inimical to American society and safety. However, the insanity plea attempts to proportion the person’s actions and a punishment by taking into consideration his or her mental status. If the crime was committed without intent, but instead through the fault of such person’s mental status, then the plea should continue to remain as a safe haven for victims of mental

The distribution of the participants by gender included 26 females and 6 males. The age of the participants ranged from 19 to 41 years old (M= 20.725, SD=5.15). All subjects are students who attend the University of Kentucky and are enrolled in PSY 427 Cognitive Psychology class instructed by Dr. Gottlob.

| BibliographyBarlow, David. Clinical Handbook of Psychological Disorders, 4th ed. New York: Guilford Press, 2008. Print.

A Clinical Research Project presented to the faculty of the Georgia School of Professional Psychology at Argosy University Atlanta in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Psychology in Clinical Psychology.

Kowalski, R., & Westen, D. (2011). Psychology (6th ed.). Retrieved from The University of Phoenix eBook Collection database.

Baron, R. A., & Kalsher, M.J. (2008). PSY 105:Introduction too psychology: Third custom edition (2nd ed.) Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon

While this assumption is accepted by a majority of geneticists and behavioral scientists, there is great disagreement on the degree of influence each contributes. Arguments for environmental influences are compelling; at the same time there is growing evidence that genetic influence on intelligence is significant and substantial (Eyesenck, 1998; Mackintosh, 1998; Plomin, 1994; Steen, 1996). The purpose of this paper is to explore the question: "How is intelligence influenced by heredity and environment?"