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Atkins v. Virginia, 536 U.S. 304 (2002), is a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States ruled 6–3 that executing people with intellectual disabilities violates the Eighth Amendment 's ban on cruel and unusual punishments, but that states can define who has an intellectual disability. [1]
In the 2002 case of Atkins v. Virginia, the court ruled that the Eighth Amendment prohibited the execution of the intellectually disabled. After the Atkins ruling, Hall challenged his death sentence on the grounds that he had an intellectual disability. Since his arrest, Hall had received nine I.Q tests, with scores ranging from 60 to 80.
(Overturned in Atkins v. Virginia (2002)) 8th 1993 Godinez v. Moran: Competency to stand trial includes the abilities to plead guilty and to waive the right to counsel 1st 2002 Atkins v. Virginia: The execution of mentally retarded defendants violates the Eighth Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishment. 8th 2005 Roper v. Simmons
The Supreme Court of the United States in the Atkins v. Virginia (2002) case used the Eighth Amendment’s cruel and unusual punishment clause to determine that those with intellectual disabilities are not competent to be executed due to diminished culpability.
[citation needed] In Roper v. Simmons the majority cited the abolishment of juvenile capital punishment in 30 states (18 of the 38 allowing capital punishment) as evidence of such a consensus. In Atkins v. Virginia, it was the "consensus" of the 30 states (18 of 38 allowing capital punishment) that had banned execution of the mildly retarded.
(Overruled in Atkins v. Virginia) Stewart v. Martinez-Villareal, 523 U.S. 637 (1998) – Atkins v. Virginia, 536 U.S. 304 (2002) – The execution of mentally retarded offenders is unconstitutional. Panetti v. Quarterman, 551 U.S. 930 (2007) – A person may not be executed if they do not understand the reason for their imminent execution.
Moore v. Texas: 535 U.S. 1044 (2002) death penalty Rehnquist, Thomas: Scalia dissented from the Court’s orders granting the applications of two petitioners for stay of execution of sentence of death, pending the Court's decision in Atkins v. Virginia, on the issue of whether the Eighth Amendment permitted the execution of the mentally retarded.
Kennedy v. Louisiana, 554 U.S. 407 (2008), is a landmark decision by the Supreme Court of the United States which held that the Eighth Amendment's Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause prohibits the imposition of the death penalty for a crime in which the victim did not die or the victim's death was not intended.