TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Amelia Ferrell Knisely on May 16, 2016

“Excluding individuals with severe mental illness from the death penalty on a case-by-case basis is just smart policy,” Hannah Cox writes in an opinion editorial for The Tennessean. Cox, coordinator of Tennessee Alliance for the Severe Mental Illness Exclusion, argues that the current lack of treatment for mental illness has resulted in law enforcement becoming responsible for these individuals. She adds excluding the mentally ill from death row will allow resources to be redirected to mental health care and victims' compensation.