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An attempt to provide understandable and up-to-date information regarding intelligence testing, intelligence theories, personal competence, adaptive behavior and intellectual disability (mental retardation) as they relate to death penalty (capital punishment) issues. A particular focus will be on psychological measurement, statistical and psychometric issues.
The title of this post is the title of this notable new paper available on SSRN authored by Christopher Slobogin. Here is the abstract:
The Supreme Court's decision in Hall v. Florida holds that "clinical definitions" control the meaning of intellectual disability in the death penalty context. In other words, the Court "scientized" the definition of intellectual disability. This article discusses the implications of this unprecedented move. It also introduces the idea of scientific stare decisis — a requirement that groups that are scientifically alike be treated similarly for culpability purposes — as a means of implementing the scientization process.