Amici Curiae Case Study

his disability is not there. In ADHD the impact of adaptive functioning deficiency will vary as the child grows up because of “different expectations and demands for adjustment” (Goldstein et al. 2002, p.45). Ignoring intellectual disabilities may work for people who do not experience them, but it is a harder challenge for someone who has to live with the impairment day in and day out. The Brief of Amici Curiae, by the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD) and the Arc of the United States helps bring the correlation between science and the legal system to life. The Amici Curiae Brief was written for the Lizcano case, discussing how science cannot be ignored by the court system whenever they please. The court in Texas says that the guidelines for distinguishing adaptive functioning deficits are not enough, that the Briseno factors are needed. The medical professionals say otherwise in the brief. They state that “While the diagnostician’s singular focus on adaptive deficits (as contrasted to balancing strengths and weaknesses) might initially seem counterintuitive to many laypeople, it makes clinical sense in the diagnostic process because the second prong’s function is to ascertain whether the measured intellectual limitations (i.e., the first prong) have real-world consequences in the individual’s life” (Brief …show more content…
Texas is to grant the petition but to do it through the fastest mean possible. The Court has already given their ruling on this kind of debate; therefore, it should not be an issue. I would recommend the Court to explicitly spell out the definition of what is constituted as an appropriate case for the death penalty with regards to an intellectually disabled person. I would not recommend a denial of the petition because the Court needs to make sure the all of the states understand that they cannot choose to ignore ruling, especially when it comes to capital