Juvy/Prison and MR?

[Eeyores Butterfly]

I tried googling this, but only came up with some journal articles that really weren't what I was looking for. I'm curious what happens when a person with mild mental retardation (say, IQ in the low 70's) is accused or convicted of a violent crime. What if that person is a preteen? Are there special procedures or accommodations put in place or are they held to the same standard as individuals with normal cognitive functioning? What if they are committed to prison or juvy? Are they housed with the regular population?

 

[FireDancer]

A real lawyer who went to actual law school as opposed to Law & Order school probably know better then me but I believe it depends on the jurisdiction and the cognitive ability of the defendant (can they contribute to their defense, know right from wrong, etc).

The most pertinent link I could find (granted I didn't spend a lot of time) is this one. It pertains to Illinois but I imagine many states are similar.

One small excerpt:

The United States Supreme Court has set out a two-pronged test to determine if a defendant is unfit due to a physical or mental disability. If a defendant is unable to understand the nature of the proceedings against him or to assist counsel in preparing a defense, the defendant is unfit. (8)

 

[JennaWest]

I am a paralegal, and it deffinatly depends on the state, some states convit minors over a certain age on 5th degree felony as an adult, there are many age differentiations by state, In Ohio we use the ORC-ohio revised code, you could check something similar for your state for the the statutes.

 

[Inigo]

I tried googling this, but only came up with some journal articles that really weren't what I was looking for. I'm curious what happens when a person with mild mental retardation (say, IQ in the low 70's) is accused or convicted of a violent crime. What if that person is a preteen? Are there special procedures or accommodations put in place or are they held to the same standard as individuals with normal cognitive functioning? What if they are committed to prison or juvy? Are they housed with the regular population?

It depends upon the jurisdiction, the offense, and the details about the individual's cognitive skills. The juvenile might be placed in sort of care facility, or they might get put in a juvenile detention facility. Or the state might take no action, or the defense might get the Court to accept a diminished capacity defense. It's hard to say without having seen the psych eval or knowing the details of the offense and the details about the juvenile.

I'm a juvenile probation officer in Indiana, and I make recommendations for the disposition (sentencing) for juveniles almost every day.

 

[LMC]

This scares the heck out of me. One of my kids is mildly cognitively deficient and while I try to teach him right from wrong, he can be convinced by some people that somethings are ok. Say if a kid really wanted my kid to to some thing bad for fun, if they could be convincing enough that it's really ok, no one would get hurt, etc, then my kid would think it's ok because someone said so. Of course my child's is well documented back to age 4 so it wouldn't be like a TV show where they suddenly become incompetent.

 

[Eeyores Butterfly]

In the situation I am thinking of, the person definitely knows right from wrong and knows the action was wrong.