Abstract
On June 20, 2002, the Supreme Court of the United States overruled years of settled legal precedent when it declared that the execution of individuals with intellectual disabilities (ID) violated the United States Constitution’s Eighth Amendment prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment (Atkins v. Virginia, 2002). This decision is the most recent in a line of cases that have been decided over the past 20 years that have changed the legal framework within which professionals who work with individuals with ID must function. As has been the case with most of these legal landmarks, Atkins represented the culmination of decades of legal and legislative advocacy on behalf of criminal defendants with ID seeking to bar the imposition of the death penalty in such cases. It had been a long and rocky road in reaching this watershed legal event. Indeed, only 13 years earlier the Supreme Court had ruled that the Eighth Amendment did not bar the execution of criminal defendants with ID (Penry v. Lynaugh, 1989). What had changed in those intervening years?
Access provided by Autonomous University of Puebla. Download to read the full chapter text
Chapter PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Keywords
- Intellectual Disability
- Intellectual Disability
- Special Education Service
- Equal Protection
- Criminal Defendant
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
REFERENCES
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, 42 U.S.C. § 12101 et seq. Atkins v. Virginia, 536 U.S. 304 (2002).
Cedar Rapids v. Garret, 526 US 66 (1999).
Cleburne Living Center v. City of Cleburne, 473 U.S. 432 (1985).
Developmental Disabilities Act of 1984, 42 U.S.C. § 6000 et seq.
Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (IDEA), 20 U.S.C. § 1400 et seq.
Olmstead v. L.C., 527 U.S. 581 (1999).
Penry v. Lynaugh, 492 U.S. 302 (1989).
Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Section 504, 29 U.S.C. § 794.
Roncker v. Walter, 700 F.2d 1058 (6th Cir. 1983).
Timothy W. v. Rochester, New Hampshire School Dist. 875 F.2d 954 (1st Cir. 1989).
Youngberg v. Romeo, 457 U.S. 307 (1982).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2007 Springer
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Landau, R.J. (2007). Advocacy and Litigation in Professional Practice. In: Jacobson, J.W., Mulick, J.A., Rojahn, J. (eds) Handbook of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. Issues on Clinical Child Psychology. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-32931-5_13
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-32931-5_13
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-0-387-32930-7
Online ISBN: 978-0-387-32931-4
eBook Packages: Behavioral ScienceBehavioral Science and Psychology (R0)