Essay - This Paper Presents a Detailed Examination of Executing the Mentally...

This paper presents a det*****iled examination of executing the mentally ill. The writer explores case law, as well as moral issues when it comes to medicating the mentally ill with anti psychotics so they are well enough to be executed. There were five sources used to complete this *****.

Introduction

An eye for an *****, a tooth for a tooth" is the philosophy many people adhere to when it ***** to ***** punishment of criminals. The death penalty has been debated ***** ***** years as it has come into and then fallen out of favor for the American public. The death penalty is especially volatile ***** ***** comes to the mentally ill. When a mentally ***** person commits a crime worthy ***** the death ***** the state ***** those involved with ***** case often face a ***** ********** ethical dilemma.

If the person is not capable of understanding why ***** are being executed or what the ***** penalty means to them, there is a legal, ethical and moral question about the fairness of that execution.

***** states' answer has been to medicate the mentally ill prisoner with anti-psychotic drugs so ***** they become ***** of mentally ***** ***** are going to be executed. The question then becomes how humane is it to bring them out of their mental illness, get them well and ***** kill them when they are able to finally understand what is happening to *****?

Making death row inmates sane enough to execute is a leg*****l, ***** and ***** debate that warrants investigation.

In 1986, the United States Supreme Court decided Ford v. Wainwright, holding that the execution of the mentally incompetent ********** the Eighth Amendment prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. A pri*****ner cannot be ********** unless sufficiently competent to understand the nature and reasons ***** his punishment. This year, in a six-to-five decision ***** ***** first ruling ***** its kind, the closely divided ***** States Court of Appeals for ***** ***** Circuit held, in Singleton v. Norris, that a ***** ill prisoner may be involuntarily medicated with antipsychotic drugs to restore his competency ***** execution. The decision raises acute ethical dilemmas for criminal ***** and for medical and mental-health professionals who provide treatment for the condemned. Should ***** professionals provide necessary mental-health ***** to a condemned prisoner when restor*****tion of competency will likely result in his *****? Does do*****g so shift their role from that of "healer" to accomplices in the administration of ***** death *****?"

In that particular case the death row inmate was a man who murdered and committed aggravated robbery. While in prison his mental health began to worsen and he ***** diagnosed as suffering from schizophrenia. His illness made him suffer from paranoia, delusions and other problems that are common to those ***** that disorder.

Single*****n believed, for example, that ***** thoughts ***** ***** stolen ***** that demons filled his cell, and in his hallucinations, his food turned to worms and his cig*****ttes ***** bones. He lost considerable weight, spoke in