Successfully Addressing Intellectual Disability Challenges in Capital Cases

Since the Supreme Court ruled in Atkins v. Virginia (2002) that intellectually disabled defendants cannot be executed, approximately 7% of death row inmates have filed habeas petitions claiming to have an intellectual disability (Blume, Johnson, & Seeds, 2009). Countless other defendants have been evaluated pre-trial to determine the appropriateness of an Atkins exclusion of the death penalty. Regardless of the timing of an Atkins evaluation, several common challenges arise in these cases. For example, the evaluating psychologist may be challenged to explain how someone can have an intellectual disability and also a previous diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder. Similarly, the psychologist in Atkins cases may be challenged to justify the use of collateral sources in making a diagnosis, even though quoting from such sources in court may constitute ‘hearsay.’ The purpose of this presentation is to describe the common psycholegal challenges in Atkins evaluations and discuss how psychologists can successfully address these challenges in a report and testimony.