The death penalty is a topic of constant controversy. Many unclear consistency issues persist within the topic regularly. The latest being tackled by the U.S. Supreme Court is if people with mental disabilities convicted of capital crimes should face the death penalty.

The high court will decide how much of an effect a person’s mental capacity has on the decision to put him or her on death row.

The federal government and 12 states have outlawed execution of people with mental disabilities, according to Reuters. A person with an IQ lower than 70 is considered to have mental disabilities.

Executing someone with mental disabilities does not accomplish anything. These people are described by medical officials as having the mental capacity of children. If the purpose of the death penalty is to deter people from committing crimes, then there is no basis to execute someone who is not aware that what they are doing is wrong.

If the purpose of the death penalty is to keep dangerous people off the streets, then there should be no opposition to putting a person with mental disabilities in some sort of correctional facility.

In 1989, the Supreme Court ruled that evidence of mental disability must be taken into consideration. But the court stated that executing people with disabilities does not violate the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

The execution of people with mental disabilities should be prohibited. The rules on this situation must be more clear and consistent if they are to be in any way effective.

Society treats people with mental disabilities differently from day one. For this very reason, there should be no problem with them being an exception to capital punishment rules.

Having mental disabilities is no excuse for committing a capital crime, or any crime for that matter. But executing them doesn’t solve anything.