Government Now Deciding Criminal Executions Based On Inmate IQ Scores?

It has been well known that a person can plead insanity and get off of murder charges among other things if proven to actually have a mental disorder. While it is a sad fact that cold blooded killers end up able to stay in a cushy mental rehab clinic instead of rotting in prison, this is our American Judicial system. Now, it seems the government is taking things a step further by checking IQ scores to know if they should actually execute current inmates.

If an inmate falls below a certain line, they are apparently saved from death. Hilariously if they are a smart criminal, they are sent off to die. The whole thing started in Florida as an inmate named Freddy Lee Hall scored a 71 on his IQ test, yet the line one must fall below to save themselves from death is 70. Meanwhile some say below 75 is the limit.

The United States Supreme Court questioned the theory of 70 being the mark, as IQ scores can be subjective. They have decided to hear Hall’s case of citing mental disability as a reason to stay away from execution. What they are set to decide is uncertain, yet it is interesting to note that they are even hearing such a case. It’s also a bit interesting to note that Florida has had this IQ law for over a decade now and we’re just now hearing of it.

A person’s intelligence, at times, cannot be measured on paper or even a standard test. Albert Einstein could barely talk until he was a teenager and many considered him dumb for the early part of his life. Obviously it is now known that Einstein was one of the greatest minds who ever lived. Yet his intelligence was not spoken or based on paper at times, rather based on how he thought and acted. If we tested him under the age of 10, would he have a high IQ? Doubtful, based on the way IQ Tests are done.

While it is common practice to say that someone has a mental disability if their IQ is lower than average, that is not really fair to say at the end of the day with IQ scores being so subjective. It would be impossible to truly measure someone’s IQ who has a mental disability.

In Hall’s case, he claims that he had issues as a child.that could potentially mean issues now. Obviously, right? I mean why would he possibly cite that he was a smart child with no mental issues when it comes to saving his skin? It is interesting that we are discussing Hall and others on death row.

Hall has been there for 35 years after murdering a 21-year-old pregnant woman. What would happen if he was found to have a mental issue? Would he get off of death row or simply not get executed? There is a lot of blurred lines to this. He would deserve death for killing another. If he was found to have a mental issue, he would not have been jailed for so long I imagine. If he developed an issue while incarcerated, that is not the government’s issue and he would still be subject to death.

Also, is it not interesting that we randomly take the IQ of an inmate? Obviously none would know the rule and mess up the IQ test on purpose….right? If we went back in time to get the IQ test, how do we know that they are the same IQ now as they were then? In Hall’s case, documents were obtained that claim he was of low IQ as a child.

The thing is, we know a lot more about the brain today versus even 5 years ago, better yet 20. Schools teach differently, special classes are in play as well. So obviously people need to be taught differently when they have a mental disorder, yet it does not seem that Hall was given one.

He has a low IQ, but most mental disorders make it very hard to measure the IQ of a person. ADHD is a hyperactive brain basically that makes it hard to concentrate on a given idea or task. As a worker, ADHD people might do well but in school they will suffer because it’s too difficult for them to understand a teacher or take in information the way a normal person would. So naturally if someone with ADHD takes a normal IQ test, they may not do well.

Some will, depending on the type of ADHD they have, medication they are on, or way they might have trained their brain. The given thought however would be that they would not score highly right off. Yet at the end of the day, there are people such as Thomas Edison and Leonardo Da Vinci that were speculated to have this very same disorder of the brain…it just wasn’t given a name then. So if Hall were to have ADHD, was never taught how to control it, and had no medication to help him, chances are that his IQ test may not come back positive.

Also, IQ is a measure of what a person knows. So if Hall was a criminal growing up, he may now know random answers to questions like, “Who invented the polio vaccine?”. While we know it was Jonas Salk, he may not if he only finished a certain amount of school.

Again, IQ levels are subjective.They really have no barrings over an execution. As a result, the Supreme Court looking over the idea of it could be essential. Hall should come to terms with his position and get used to the fashion of orange being the new black. While he may not die from execution, for now it does not seem like he’s seeing anywhere outside of prison.