Death Penalty and the Mentally Retarded

Therefore the board before the trial should determine whether or not the person is mentally retarded and the jury must accept their decision and if the board finds the man to be mentally retarded the jury is unable to even contemplate the death penalty.
And finally, while we do not want these mentally retarded people to be killed, we do not mean to say these people should simply be set free. They should be imprisoned, however they should be kept separately from the other prisoners. There these mentally retarded people should receive medical attention as a mentally retarded person not imprisoned would receive.
Picture this. A six-year-old is strapped down to a bed as pellets of gas drop around him, strangling him, taking his breaths until the veins beneath his skin bursts. In the words of Senator Ellis "we must make sure that a childlike mind is not subject to the death penalty."
…