On June 26, 1989, the United States Supreme Court, in the case of Penry v. Lynaugh, upheld the imposition of the death penaklty on a mentally retarded offender, John Penry (Chan 1211). The Court, also, held that the Federal Constitution's eighth amendment's cruel and unusual punishment clause is not violated by the execution of mentally retarded defendants (Cook 869). I strongly concur with the United States Supreme Court's decision. I do not believe that mentally retarded defendants should be categorically exempt from the death penalty because of their retardation. I hold this position because IQ test results are sometimes unreliable, there are different degrees of understanding of right and wrong among mentally retarded persons with the same IQ, defendants who receive life sentences have a better life than the homeless, and there is no national consensus against executing the mentally retarded. Rather than giving a categorical exemption to the mentally retarded, I feel that each murder case involving a mentally retarded defendant should take into consideration the previously mentioned factors.
When a defendant is labeled mentally retarded, an IQ test is administered to determine the degree of retardation. What is mental retardation? Grossman, an expert in the field of intelligence testing, defines mental retardation as "significantly subaverage general intellectual functioning existing concurrently with deficits in adaptive behavior and manifested during the developmental period" (5-7). Thus, mental retardation is in essence a norm-referenced statistical creation and reflects no absolute judgements about intelligence but only the view that the labeled individual demonstrates lesser aptitude...
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Shapiro, Walter. "What Say Should Victims Have: A boy's anguish at watching the murder of his sister may change the death-penalty laws." Time V 137 (27 May 1991): 61.
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Stupid, retarded, crazy, insane; throughout time, these words are used to explain the behaviors of the mentally ill. These are just words, right? Actually, these words can have hurtful connotations. Since the first individual with a mental illness walked this earth until now, hurtful labels have been assigned to them. But society does not stop with just words, there are also unfavorable mannerisms used to explain visually, stupid, retarded, crazy, or insane. These descriptive words and mannerisms used in jest amongst friends can cause distress to anyone who bears witnesses to include an individual who is intellectually disabled or mentally fragile. If we look at it from the perspective of the intellectually disabled, they have been
Over the years people who had mental disabilities were not always treated like human beings. The mistreatment of people in psychiatric hospitals stayed relatively the same from the 1900’s until around the 1950s and 60s. The mentally disabled had very different treatment, perception, and rights than what they have now. There have been laws put in place in order to let the mentally disabled have more rights to their treatment and education.
Yet, many jurisdictions using the death penalty have allowed provisions exempting the mentally incompetent from execution. American law recognizes additional reason for exclusion, including issues focusing on retribution, the ability to provide information for the appeals process, and the ability to psychological prepare for death (Brodsky et al., 1999). Although these exclusions are in place, there is still a need to evaluate an inmate’s competency.
" Mental Illness and the Death Penalty." American Civil Liberties Union. May 5, 2009. Web. 04
In today’s academic world many students are challenged when it comes to writing, or so they think. Many of them believe that they can go on the internet and use whatever is needed for the paper they are writing. Maybe it is a lack of knowledge or confidence that they are capable of expressing themselves on paper. The majority of the time many students procrastinate until the last minute to write a paper. There are few thing students need to learn about plagiarism such as what is plagiarism, how to cite sources correctly, methods of detecting plagiarism, and what academic punishment they face when caught.
In 1973 Author Shawcross was convicted of raping and murdering two children in upstate New York; however, after serving 15 years Shawcross was paroled in 1988. In a horrific 21-month killing spree, Shawcross took 11 more lives. That is 11 innocent people who would be alive today had justice been served (Pataki, Deterrent 2). With the topic of the death penalty comes a lot of controversy which is rooted from questions like: is the death penalty cruel and unusual punishment, is it helpful in crime control, is proper representation applied to these cases, and should reform be applied in the areas of crimes punishable and methods? Although some people argue that the death penalty is inhumane and against human rights, crime rates could be lowered through the use and reform of the death penalty.
The consequences of plagiarism are both legal and academic. Plagiarism has been a concern in America since the founding fathers wrote the Constitution empowering the Legislative branch to protect intellectual and creative works. Today plagiarism can be easily accomplished due to the World Wide Web. If people violate copyright laws, they are subject to fines and imprisonment. When people choose to plagiarize, they are restricting their level of academic learning. The people who have done the research and posted it on the web will not receive the credit that they deserve. To plagiarize is “to take ideas or writings from another and pass them off as one’s own” (Webster’s New World Dictionary). It is extremely easy to access information on the World Wide Web. The proliferation of computers and printers in libraries, schools, and homes has enabled voluminous information to be accessible to all. This access has tempted some people to use others’ writings as their own.
Mental retardation was renamed Intellectual Disability in the DSM-5. This was to guide away from relying on IQ test scores for the diagnosis of mental retardation and to try and rely more on day to day tasks that one should be doing for their age and cultural lifestyle. There are four levels of mental retardation, mild, moderate, severe, and profound. (Nolen-Hoeksema, 2011). The least severe of them is the mild mental retardation. Children...
The impact of the Internet on the plagiarism has been huge. You can find hundreds of websites that, for a fee, will offer papers on every topic imaginable. There are also websites that promise custom made papers written based on the requested criteria. The ease and availability offered through such sites has tempted even the most honest students. With the stress and pressure that the pursuit higher education can bring it is often a welcome release to have a ready-made paper at the stroke of key.
Bedau, H. A. (2004). Killing as Punishment:Reflections on the Death Penalty in America. York, Pennsylvania. Maple Press. Northeastern University Press. Print
Lovecky, D. V. (1995). Highly Gifted Children and Peer Relationships. Counseling and Guidance Newsletter. Retrieved March 10, 2003, from http://print.ditd.org/floater=74.html.
Intellectual property (TV programs, movies, etc…) is an incredible source of growth for the American economy. Intellectual property is not only America’s largest trade export, but it is creating new jobs at triple the rate of the rest of the economy, and is responsible for more than five percent of the GDP. The movie industry alone has a surplus balance of trade, something no other American company can lay claim to.
The heaviest punishment towards convicts is death penalty in law. It means to atone for an offense is dead. Of course, it will not execute for every criminal. Death penalty is only for felons. For example, a people who murdered someone would not get the death penalty. The death penalty is for murders who related to the smuggling of aliens or committed during a drug-related drive-by shooting. Sometimes, however, the felons also can avoid the death because some countries (or actually states) don’t allow death penalty. Then, what decision would the convict get? It is a life sentence, which means the prisoner should be in a prison until he or she dies. However, it is not good idea to keep felons. Death penalty should be allowed and get more active because life sentence is costly, unsafe, and insincere for a victim and the family.
For centuries, plagiarism has been a major stumbling block in the pathway for academic success. Plagiarism, as defined, means “to steal and pass off the ideas or words of another as one's own". It has existed in one form or another since the advent of time, with individuals copying the work of others to propel themselves forward in their own education or professional work field. The problem is magnified significantly in today’s society as we live in a high speed world where all of the information that you could possibly need is at the convenience of your fingertips.
Plagiarism is a major problem in academics and is hard to detect now that so much information is available on the internet. With all of the software and search engines there still is a large amount of copying. Depending on students to be honest and professors and teachers to be watchful for plagiarism is about all that can be done to stop it.