The United Nations believes that the use of the death penalty should be avoided and that people with a mental illness or a disability should never be executed. In November 2000, John Penry was given a death sentence in the state of Texas for raping and murdering a young woman. Penry's sentence caused great controversy because Penry was considered to be intellectually disabled.
He had an IQ of 63, which was well below the minimum that defines normal intelligence (70). In an interview Penry gave to the New York Times, just prior to his planned execution, he said he was confused about what was happening and that he thought he was going to the North Pole to visit Santa. After several stays of execution the US Supreme Court overturned Penry's death sentence.
The court ruled that the jury was not given a chance to consider the accused's mental capacity. Significantly, the court did not rule on whether it was a cruel and unusual punishment to execute the intellectually disabled. Since 2000, there have been several other cases similar to Penry's and there has been a great deal of debate in the United States regarding the policy of some of the states to execute the intellectually disabled and even children as young as 16.
