Abstract

Of the 37 juveniles currently condemned to death in the United States, all of the 14 incarcerated in four states received comprehensive psychiatric, neurological, neuropsychological, and educational evaluations. Nine had major neurological impairment, seven suffered psychotic disorders antedating incarceration, seven evidenced significant organic dysfunction on neuropsychological testing, and only two had full-scale IQ scores above 90. Twelve had been brutally physically abused, and five had been sodomized by relatives. For a variety of reasons the subjects' vulnerabilities were not recognized at the time of trial or sentencing, when they could have been used for purposes of mitigation.

Keywords

PsychologyPsychiatryClinical psychology

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Year
1988
Type
article
Volume
145
Issue
5
Pages
584-589
Citations
251
Access
Closed

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Dorothy Otnow Lewis, Jonathan Pincus, Barbara Bard et al. (1988). Neuropsychiatric, psychoeducational, and family characteristics of 14 juveniles condemned to death in the United States. American Journal of Psychiatry , 145 (5) , 584-589. https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.145.5.584

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DOI
10.1176/ajp.145.5.584