Am J Psychiatry 1988; 145:584-589
Copyright © 1988 by American Psychiatric Association
Neuropsychiatric, psychoeducational, and family characteristics of 14 juveniles condemned to death in the United States
DO Lewis, JH Pincus, B Bard, E Richardson, LS Prichep, M Feldman and C Yeager
Department of Psychiatry, New York University Medical Center, NY 10016.
Of the 37 juveniles currently condemned to death in the United States, all
of the 14 incarcerated in four states received comprehensive psychiatric,
neurological, neuropsychological, and educational evaluations. Nine had
major neurological impairment, seven suffered psychotic disorders
antedating incarceration, seven evidenced significant organic dysfunction
on neuropsychological testing, and only two had full-scale IQ scores above
90. Twelve had been brutally physically abused, and five had been sodomized
by relatives. For a variety of reasons the subjects' vulnerabilities were
not recognized at the time of trial or sentencing, when they could have
been used for purposes of mitigation.
