- 05.05.01

LA FLORIDA ABOLISCE PENA DI MORTE PER MINORATI MENTALI

WASHINGTON, 5 MAGGIO 2001 - L'assemblea della Florida ha approvato alla quasi unanimit� una legge che abolisce l'esecuzione di un condannato ritardato. La misura, gi� approvata all'unanimit� dal senato, passa ora al governatore Jeb Bush per la sua firma. Il fratello minore del presidente George W. Bush ha gi� fatto sapere di essere favorevole alla messa al bando di esecuzioni di minorati mentali. Il governatore ha gi� detto, infatti, che con o senza la legge, egli non avrebbe firmato mai pi� il mandato di esecuzioni di ritardati mentali. A livello nazionale, la Corte Suprema a Washington sta esaminando la possibilit� di dichiarare anti-costituzionale la messa a morte di minorati mentali. Tra i 38 stati che applicano la pena di morte, 13 hanno gi� abolito l'esecuzione dei ritardati.

  Friday May 4

Fla. Bill Bans Executing Retarded

By DAVID ROYSE, Associated Press Writer TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - The state Legislature on Friday approved a ban on executions of mentally retarded prisoners and sent the measure to Gov. Jeb Bush.The House passed the bill 110-1. The Senate passed the same bill unanimously in March. Bush has said he supports the measure, and has also vowed not to sign death warrants for mentally retarded prisoners, with or without the bill.The legislation, sponsored by Sen. Richard Mitchell, lists no IQ threshold, but takes into account an inmate's intellectual functioning and behavior.Nationally, the Supreme Court is considering whether such executions violate the Constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishment. Of the 38 states with the death penalty, 13 have banned executing the mentally retarded.The Florida bill, backed by prosecutors and the Association for Retarded Citizens, was approved by the House on the last day of this legislative session without debate.``It's certainly incremental progress in changing attitudes about the death penalty,'' said Mike McCarron, executive director of the Florida Catholic Conference, which has supported the bill for several years.At least one mentally retarded inmate has been executed in Florida since 1972, when IQ testing became routine, said Michael Radelet, chair of the University of Florida's sociology department. Arthur F. Goode III, 30, was executed in 1984 for killing a 9-year-old boy.At least two others had severe mental disorders, Radelet said.Last year, the state Senate passed the same measure, but it died in the House.In the past, prosecutors sought to block the bill, but helped write this year's version, including a key change.Prosecutors had complained that judicial proceedings would be slowed by the need for a hearing to determine whether each capital murder defendant was retarded.This year's bill provides for such hearings after, not before, sentencing.