Resources on Severe Mental Illness and Death Penalty

• ABA Mental Illness Resolution (2006)
• Mental Health America Position Statement 54: Death Penalty and People with Mental Illnesses (2011)
• National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) position on the death penalty
• Associations concur on mental disability and death penalty policy, American Psychological Association, January 2007
• Severe Mental Illness Exclusion of Death Penalty Sentencing, Idaho Medical Association, 2016
• "Serious Mental Illness and the Death Penalty" - Ohio Justice and Policy Center, 2015
• "Battle Scars: Military Veterans and the Death Penalty" - Death Penalty Information Center, November 2015
• "Double Tragedies - Victims Speak Out Against the Death Penalty For People with Severe Mental Illness" - Murder Victims' Families for Human Rights, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, 2009
• "Mental Illness and the Death Penalty in North Carolina: A Diagnostic Approach" - Charlotte School of Law, may 2007
• "The execution of mentally ill offenders" - Amnesty International, January 2006

SMI exemption bills, fiscal impact analysis, testimony and legislative hearings:

• Missouri House Bill 2509 (2018)
• Kentucky Senate Bill 107 (2018)
• North Carolina Senate Bill 166 (2017)
• Texas House Bill 3080 (2017). Click here to watch the hearing on HB3080.
• Ohio Senate Bill 40 / House Bill 81 (2017/2018). Read the House Bill analysis or the Senate Bill analysis. Access all proponent testimony (12 documents) on this page.
• Tennessee House Bill 345 / Senate Bill 378 (2017/2018). Click here to watch the legislative hearing on SB 378 (click on SB078 in the reader on the right side).
• South Dakota House Bill 1099 (2017) (Access bill text) ; House Bill 1123 (2018) 
• Virginia House Bill 1522 / Senate Bill 1348 (2017) (Access bill text); House Bill 758 (2018) / Senate Bill 802 (2018)
• Indiana Senate Bill 155 (2017) ( Click here to watch the legislative hearing on SB 155 (see February 15, 9 am, last hour of the hearing).
• Arkansas House Bill 2170 (2017)
• Ohio Senate Bill 162 (2016) 

Legal & legislative documents:

• Amicus Brief filed by Mental Health America (MHA) and the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) in the case of California v. Steskal (the amicus brief discusses why individuals with severe mental illness should be categorically exempted from the death penalty).
• ABA Testimony in Support of HB1522 in front of Virginia House Courts of Justice Criminal Law committee (Jan. 30, 2017)
• ABA Testimony in Support of HB1099 in front of the South Dakota House of Representatives State Affairs Committee (Feb. 13, 2017)

Other Resources

2018 Cost Analysis

On June 21, 2018, the ABA Death Penalty Due Process Review Project released “Potential Cost-Savings of a Severe Mental Illness Exclusion from the Death Penalty: An Analysis of Tennessee Data,” which presents a preliminary cost estimate of such an exclusion in the state of Tennessee. While the analysis is limited in its scope and data set, it presents the first reasonable estimation of how much money a state like Tennessee could save if it enacts such a policy—approximately $1.4 to $1.9 million a year. Moreover, this report offers a model methodology for others to apply to their states in order to better assess the public policy effects of a severe mental illness exclusion to the death penalty.

2016 White Paper

On December 6, 2016, the Project released a comprehensive White Paper on Severe Mental Illness and the Death Penalty. he paper provides a comprehensive examination of how mental illness is currently treated in our capital punishment and criminal justice systems, what is typically meant by "severe mental illness", why current laws are inadequate and contrary to constitutional standards that exist for other vulnerable capital defendants, and why people with severe mental illness should not be subject to the death penalty as a public policy matter.

The Paper also describes the ABA's history working on this issue and why our organization (and many others) have determined that an exemption for severe mental illness is an appropriate and reform to our capital punishment systems. We hope that this Paper will be a great resource for the public, policymakers, lawyers, and others who are concerned about how our justice system treats people with serious mental health disorders. 

CLICK HERE to read the paper. Contact us at [email protected] to receive printed copies of the Paper.

2016 National Summit on Severe Mental Illness and the Death Penalty Resources

The White Paper was released during the National Summit on Severe Mental Illness and the Death Penalty, organized by our Project, the Equitas Foundation and Georgetown University's Prisons and Justice Initiative.

Click on the links below to access the articles:

• "The True Legacy of Atkins and Roper: The Unreliability Principle, Mentally Ill Defendants, and the Death Penalty ’s Unraveling" - Scott Sundby,  23 Wm. & Mary Bill Rts. J. 487 (2014)
• "The Challenge and Dilemma of Charting a Course to Constitutionally Protect the Severely Mentally Ill Capital Defendant from the Death Penalty" -  Lyn Entzeroth, 44 Akron L. Rev. 529 (2011)
• "What Atkins Could Mean for People with Mental Illness" - Christopher Slobogin, 33 N. Mex. L. Rev.293-314 (2003)
• "Mental Illness and the Death Penalty" - Christopher Slobogin, California Criminal Law Review, Vol. 2, Article No. 3, (2000) 
  

Click to access the following websites, for further reading about mental illness and mental health law:

• National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) 
• Mental Health America (MHA)
• American Psychological Association (APA)
• American Psychiatric Association (APA)
• National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
• Schizophrenia and Related Disorders Alliance of America (SARDAA)
• Brain Injury Association of America (BIA)
• Judge David L. Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law
• American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law (AAPL)
• National Association of Social Workers (NASW)