Sex-Offender Treatment 239Execution of the mentally ill holds significant implications for both the criminal
justice and mental health systems. From a legal standpoint, the ruling of Ford i!.
Wainwnght (1986) perhaps raised more questions than it answered. There is a lack
of specificity in defining several issues which cross the divide between psychology
and the law. For example, although an individual must have a mental illness in order
to be rendered incompetent, the Court has yet to specify which mental illnesses
can be used to exempt an individual from execution. As illustrated by several cases,
this results in psychologists diagnosing death-row inmates as mentally ill while still
rendering them competent for execution. Similarly, the Court has not yet ruled
on the appropriate protocol to follow when psychologists disagree in their expert
opinions. Finally, although there have only been two cases in which death-row
prisoners were found incompetent for execution, guidelines have not yet been
established in terms of what to do with those deemed incompetent.
Suggestions for Future ResearchThere are a number of areas which need further exploration regarding the incarcer-
ation and execution of the mentally ill. Research is needed that compares mentally
ill offenders who have been hospitalized with those who have been incarcerated in
terms of their psychological symptomatology as well as their risk to the commu-
nity upon release. Such research would assist in understanding which environment
provides the most benefit to the individual as well as to society.
Research that assesses the reliability of psychologists' expert opinions on death
penalty cases would provide valuable information to the courts in determining the
weight that should be given to such testimony. Moreover, it would be helpful to
both the criminal justice and the mental health fields to have research available that
identifies those factors which account for the discrepancies among psychologists'
opinions in capital cases. Finally, research could contribute significantly to opera-
tionalizing some of the legal terminology so that the legal standards could be
appropriately applied to the practice of conducting competency-for-execurion
evaluations.
Sex-Offender Treatment
Introduction
The most appropriate way of addressing sex offenders continues to be an issue de-
bated among psychologists, criminologists, private citizens, and the legislature. The
disposition options for convicted sex offenders are wide-ranging and include life
imprisonment, civil commitment, chemical castration, and psychological treatment.
Perhaps the area which has received the most attention from the fields of psychology
and criminology is whether it is beneficial to provide treatment to sex offenders.