In South Carolina, death penalty lawyers say five to 10 of the state's 68 death row inmates are retarded. Mental retardation is caused in hundreds of ways. Malnutrition and other effects of poverty, childhood injuries, lead poisoning, chromosomal disorders such as Down syndrome, alcohol and drug use by mothers during pregnancy and childhood diseases are just a few of the reasons why about 7million people in the United States have mental retardation. It is different from mental illness, although people with mental retardation are more likely to have a mental illness. While its effects vary, it does not make a person more or less violent or prone to committing crimes.
Mild retardation can cause serious difficulties in understanding and the ability to function.
And because it is mild in more than 85percent of the cases, it is, unlike many other disabilities, difficult to detect. That's one reason it presents such challenges to the criminal justice system. People with low IQs often don't understand their rights, legal proceedings or punishment. Another problem, Perske says, is that they can be quick to accept blame. A lot of these guys with mental retardation have as their goal that no one know that they have mental retardation.