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Hall V. Florida: The Supreme Court’S Guidance In Implementing Atkins, James W. Ellis
Hall V. Florida: The Supreme Court’S Guidance In Implementing Atkins, James W. Ellis
James W. Ellis
No abstract provided.
Disability Advocacy And Atkins, James W. Ellis
Volunteering Children: Parental Commitment Of Minors To Mental Institutions, James W. Ellis
Volunteering Children: Parental Commitment Of Minors To Mental Institutions, James W. Ellis
James W. Ellis
In most states,' parents may commit their children to mental institutions without a hearing or any other form of judicial scrutiny. If a parent wants a child committed, and a hospital will accept the child as a patient, no legal authority will hear the child's protest. Moreover, the child-patient has no standing to petition for release from the institution until he or she reaches the statutory age of majority. Until that time any request for discharge must be made by the parent. Thus, the minor admitted to a mental hospital on application of a parent is denied access to virtually …
Some Observations On The Juvenile Commitment Cases: Reconceptualizing What The Child Has At Stake, James W. Ellis
Some Observations On The Juvenile Commitment Cases: Reconceptualizing What The Child Has At Stake, James W. Ellis
James W. Ellis
No abstract provided.
The Consequences Of The Insanity Defense: Proposals To Reform Post-Acquittal Commitment Laws, James W. Ellis
The Consequences Of The Insanity Defense: Proposals To Reform Post-Acquittal Commitment Laws, James W. Ellis
James W. Ellis
There are sound public policy reasons for considering a reform of state laws concerning commitment of insanity acquittees. A balanced system of special commitment can protect the public safety and, at the same time, give acquittees a fair hearing on their current mental condition and continuing need for confinement. Special commitment can also insulate general commitment laws from political pressures that can arise from the prospect of the possible release of notorious insanity acquittees. Several of the recently proposed model reforms, however, have features that commend them to the attention of state legislators. The Oregon model of using a Psychiatric …
Mental Retardation And The Death Penalty: A Guide To State Legislative Issues, James W. Ellis
Mental Retardation And The Death Penalty: A Guide To State Legislative Issues, James W. Ellis
James W. Ellis
The interest in State Legislatures in the topic of mental retardation and the death penalty has obviously heightened with the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Atkins v. Virginia.' The purpose of this document is to provide legislators and advocates with guidance in implementing the Atkins decision, so that each State's death penalty legislation is in full compliance with constitutional requirements.
Hall V. Florida: The Supreme Court's Guidance In Implementing Atkins, James W. Ellis
Hall V. Florida: The Supreme Court's Guidance In Implementing Atkins, James W. Ellis
James W. Ellis
In Atkins v. Virginia, the U.S. Supreme Court concluded that criminal defendants with mental retardation could not be sentenced to death or be executed because such an execution would constitute cruel and unusual punishment and therefore was prohibited by the Eighth Amendment. A dozen years later, in Hall v. Florida, the Court has reiterated the constitutional holding of Atkins and has given the states guidance on its implementation. The Court held that Florida could not impose an arbitrary IQ score limitation on the right of capital defendants to seek relief under Atkins. While the holding in Hall was relatively narrow, …
Limits On The State's Power To Confine 'Dangerous' Persons: Constitutional Implications Of Foucha V. Louisiana, James W. Ellis
Limits On The State's Power To Confine 'Dangerous' Persons: Constitutional Implications Of Foucha V. Louisiana, James W. Ellis
James W. Ellis
In its recent decision in Foucha v. Louisiana,' the Court declined to provide a complete set of constitutional guidelines, but it did give some guidance on the applicability of procedural due process, substantive due process, and equal protection principles. It also provided some indication of the views of the newer members of a changing Court. All of these concerns are raised by Washington's Sexually Violent Predators statute, providing for the confinement of individuals determined to be "sexual predators." Since Foucha addressed important due process and equal protection questions relevant to the Washington statute, this article is an attempt to analyze …
Introduction, James W. Ellis
Mentally Retarded Criminal Defendants, James W. Ellis, Ruth A. Luckasson
Mentally Retarded Criminal Defendants, James W. Ellis, Ruth A. Luckasson
James W. Ellis
This Article attempts to provide a preliminary overview of the issues in the Mental Health Standards as they relate to defendants with mental retardation. Part I reviews the history of the treatment of retarded defendants in the criminal justice system. Part II describes the characteristics of people with mental retardation and the consequences of those characteristics. Part III then discusses the extent to which mental retardation should be exculpatory of criminal responsibility. Part IV analyzes the critical importance of competence issues to mentally retarded defendants. Part V elaborates upon dispositional issues including civil commitment and sentencing. Parts VI and VII …
Disability Advocacy And The Death Penalty: The Road From Penry To Atkins, James W. Ellis
Disability Advocacy And The Death Penalty: The Road From Penry To Atkins, James W. Ellis
James W. Ellis
No abstract provided.
Disability Advocacy And Atkins, James W. Ellis
Disability Advocacy And Atkins, James W. Ellis
James W. Ellis
This Article examines the correlation between the Court's perception and its resolution of the constitutional issues, most dramatically exhibited in Atkins. Part II of this Article briefly examines the history of discrimination against persons with mental retardation. Part III of this Article traces the history of the Court's decisions involving persons with mental retardation, giving special attention to the way in which the Justices' opinions reveal their apparent understanding of mental retardation and the relationship between individuals who have the disability and the law.5 Finally, Part IV addresses the Atkins opinion itself, with emphasis on the Court's understanding of mental …
Chronicling A Movement For Civil Rights, James W. Ellis
Chronicling A Movement For Civil Rights, James W. Ellis
James W. Ellis
Review of the book, The Mentally Disabled and the Law, by Jan Brakel Samuel, John Pary, and Barbara A. Weiner.
Decisions By And For People With Mental Retardation: Balancing Considerations Of Autonomy And Protection, James W. Ellis
Decisions By And For People With Mental Retardation: Balancing Considerations Of Autonomy And Protection, James W. Ellis
James W. Ellis
This Article will attempt to analyze some of the considerations that should inform enlightened and compassionate public policy in this area. Section I will describe briefly the definition of mental retardation and common attributes of people who have the disability and the social and political world in which they live within our society. Section II will sketch some of the contexts in which legal issues about decision-making arise in the lives of people with mental retardation. Section III will discuss the generic legal doctrines of consent which form the backdrop for legal analysis of these problems, with particular attention to …
The American Association On Mental Retardation, The Arc Of The United States, The American Orthopsychiatric Association, Physicians For Human Rights, The American Network Of Community Options And Resources, The Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. Foundation, The Judge David L. Bazelon Center For Mental Health Law, And The National Association Of Protection And Advocacy Systems As Amici Curiae In Support Of Petititioner, April Land, James W. Ellis, Christian G. Fritz, Michael B. Browde
The American Association On Mental Retardation, The Arc Of The United States, The American Orthopsychiatric Association, Physicians For Human Rights, The American Network Of Community Options And Resources, The Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. Foundation, The Judge David L. Bazelon Center For Mental Health Law, And The National Association Of Protection And Advocacy Systems As Amici Curiae In Support Of Petititioner, April Land, James W. Ellis, Christian G. Fritz, Michael B. Browde
James W. Ellis
The American people first became aware of the issue of mental retardation and the death penalty around the time of this Court’s decision in Penry. In the intervening years, all available forms of evidence demonstrate an unmistakable national consensus that people with mental retardation should not be executed. Petitioner, as well as other supporting amici, will present this Court with the compelling clinical, moral, and constitutional reasons why such executions violate the Eighth Amendment. Amici American Association on Mental Retardation (AAMR) et al. offer a somewhat different perspective. Since the Court’s evaluation of whether a national consensus exists is essentially …
Brief Of Amicus Curiae, The American Association On Intellectual And Developmental Disabilities, The Arc Of The United States, The National Disability Rights Network, Disability Rights Florida, And The Bazelon Center For Mental Health Law In Support Of Petitioner, April Land, James W. Ellis, Ann M. Delpha, Carol M. Suzuki, Steven K. Homer
Brief Of Amicus Curiae, The American Association On Intellectual And Developmental Disabilities, The Arc Of The United States, The National Disability Rights Network, Disability Rights Florida, And The Bazelon Center For Mental Health Law In Support Of Petitioner, April Land, James W. Ellis, Ann M. Delpha, Carol M. Suzuki, Steven K. Homer
James W. Ellis
Question Presented: Whether the Florida scheme for identifying mentally retarded defendants in capital cases violates Atkins v. Virginia, 536 U.S. 304 (2002). Summary of Argument: In Atkins, this Court concluded that a national consensus had developed against the execution of persons with mental retardation and that such executions violated the Eighth Amendment. The Court also stated that the national consensus suggests that some characteristics of mental retardation, such as disabilities in the areas of reasoning, judgment, and control of impulses, undermine the procedural protections of our capital punishment jurisprudence and can jeopardize the reliability and fairness of capital proceedings against …