In May 2014, the Supreme Court addressed issues stemming from the Atkins v. Virginia decision in the related case of Hall v. Florida. The Court ruled that states cannot use a rigid IQ score as the sole determinant for a prisoner's eligibility for the death penalty, deeming such a practice unconstitutional.

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A key outcome of the Supreme Court's ruling in Atkins v. Virginia was that it granted individual states the authority to establish their own criteria for defining intellectual disability. This delegation of power led to different standards across the country for determining who is exempt from the death penalty on the basis of intellectual disability.

State Autonomy in Defining Intellectual Disability Post-Atkins v. Virginia

Spielman, R. M., Jenkins, W. J., & Lovett, M. D. (2020, April 22). Psychology (2nd ed.). OpenStax. https://openstax.org/books/psychology-2e/pages/1-introduction

OpenStax Psychology (2nd ed.) Textbook

Supreme Court Ruling in Hall v. Florida (2014)

Based on the following case study, analyze the primary legal or ethical problem that arises from a system where each state can establish its own criteria for defining intellectual disability in capital punishment cases.

Analyzing Disparate Outcomes in Capital Cases

Analyze the most likely legal reason for the different outcomes in the following scenario, based on a key Supreme Court decision regarding the Eighth Amendment.

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