In the United States there are about 3,700 people on death row. There are some arguments about how many are mentally retarded, but the number is estimated at about one-fourth to one-third (www.aclu.org/DeathPenalty/... 1). Being mentally retarded does not mean being insane or having brain damage. Mental retardation is a lifelong condition of impaired or incomplete mental development. Mentally retarded people have an IQ below 70 while an average person has an IQ of 100. These …showed first 75 words of 1356 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1356 total…to reason, to learn to control their impulses, and they learn to think in long-range terms. Those that are disabled are forever stuck in that immature mentality. Those that are mentally retarded criminals should be given life imprisonment. They are not trustworthy enough to walk the streets, but they are not capable of the mature mind it takes to commit a murder in cold blood, and so they should not be given the death penalty.