Capital Punishment of the Mentally Retarded A mentally retarded man is charged with a crime that he has never committed. Regardless of his mental state, he is sentenced to the death penalty, condemned to die as a "hog." The divisive idea of executing a mentally handicapped person polarizes most individuals into either fervently supporting or opposing the idea, but Ernest J. Gaines takes an eclectic combination of both ideas to form his own opinion. Those …showed first 75 words of 773 total…

…showed last 75 words of 773 total…Even as Laws Begin to Shift." NY Times. 7 Aug. 2000. 22 Nov. 2003. < http://www.crimelynx.com/olcruz.html> Gaines, Ernest J. A Lesson Before Dying. New York: Vintage Contemporaries, 1994. Jost, Kenneth."Rethinking the Death Penalty." CQ Researcher. 16 Nov. 2001: p.945 Reinert, Patty. "Defining mentally retarded." 16 Feb. 2003. 22 Nov. 2003. < http://www.thearcofgreaterhouston.com/legislative/articles/article03170201.htm>. Sharp, Dudley. "Mental Retardation and the Death Penalty." 18 Oct. 2001. 22 Nov. 2003. <http://prodeathpenalty.com/Articles/Sharp_MR.htm >.