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The aftermath of Ford v. Wainwright
Author(s) -
Radelet Michael L.,
Miller Kent S.
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
behavioral sciences and the law
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.649
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1099-0798
pISSN - 0735-3936
DOI - 10.1002/bsl.2370100305
Subject(s) - wainwright , supreme court , appeal , law , government (linguistics) , political science , philosophy , linguistics
Whatever happened to Alvin Ford? This paper describes the aftermath of the Supreme Court's 1986 ruling in Ford v. Wainwright . The Ford decision held that exempting the mentally incompetent from execution is a matter of constitutional right, and hence the determination of who is competent for execution cannot be left solely in the hands of the executive branch of the government. We describe the hearing in Ford's case in federal district court that occurred after the Supreme Court's decision, the judge's ruling, and Ford's subsequent (and final) appeal. We conclude that despite the decision in Ford , it remains all but impossible for defense attorneys to prove that psychotic death row clients are incompetent for execution.