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The Eighth Amendment declares that cruel and unusual punishments cannot be inflicted upon prisoners. This law has been construed to protect some prisoners suffering from delusions and psychotic episodes from execution. Now, this safeguard can also apply to those suffering from dementia and other diseases of the mind.
An egregious murder has been committed. The perpetrator has been caught, tried, found guilty, and sentenced. The sentence is death. This is a pretty standard example of our justice system at work – everything seems arguably fair and judicious (in death-penalty states). Our system permits such punishments for their retributive importance.
Now consider: years later on death row, the aforementioned convict has begun to suffer from psychotic delusions and insanity and cannot fathom why he would be slain. This person can no longer be executed for their crime under the laws of our country. Their execution would now violate the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution.
But what if the prisoner developed a different disease of the mind – one not analogous with insanity? Would this kind of comparable misconception of reality qualify a person to be saved from execution? This is just the question the Supreme Court of the United States recently addressed.