James Felner, author of "Mentally Retarded Don't Belong on Death Row," states that, "A person is considered mentally retarded if he or she has a significantly sub-average general intellectual functioning, which generally means recording an IQ score of lower than 70, and exhibiting deficits in adaptive behavior before the age of 18." According to the American Association on Mental Retardation, it has three components:
1. significantly sub-average intellectual function
2. accompanying impairments in the adaptive skills of the person
3. manifestation of the disability before the age of 18
How can Americans put someone on death row that is not fully responsible for his actions? Many argue that these people have committed horrible murders and are absolutely guilty of a capital crime; therefore they deserve the death penalty as the consequence of their crime. The people behind these arguments are wrong; it is a dreadful way to deal with people who do not understand the extent of......
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