Mental impairment is one of the many factors that the federal court takes into consideration in sentencing and is not recognized as much as it should be. There are many mental illnesses such as anxiety, depression, dementia, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder that can cause a person to act out and potentially become a criminal. Although the court system knows of the defendants records, and of the verifiable reasons to why they committed the crime that does not mean that the defendant 's state of mind during their crime was stable. For example, “most individuals with severe mental illness are not violent — they are more likely to become crime victims than perpetrators — a lack of access to treatment can lead to delusions, disassociation and
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reasons such as lack of education, money and many more prevailing reasons. However, the crime that happens with poverty-stricken people results in the consideration of their economical state during criminal sentencing. For example, when going up against the jury as a poverty-stricken elder it may be hard to prove innocent when the elder does not have enough money to be represented by a good lawyer. During criminal trials, the factor of being poor does play a role in the decision of someone being innocent or not. Criminal trials are very expensive and who ultimately pays for it? The poor. As a result, who gets sentenced to the death penalty? The poor. This is because poor people do not have the money to help support themselves with a representative and so without good representation there is a greater chance that they will be convicted guilty. From all the talk within legislative assemblies, the majority of people who are selected to die are the poor. It is said that “ the poor are far more likely to receive the death sentence than are wealthy people accused of similar crimes. The problem, therefore, is dual-faceted in that poverty can lead to capital crime, and it makes capital punishment more likely”(Todd 1). Fundamentally the issue of the death penalty is not based on the ideals of someone being poor but rather the application of the death penalty. Poor people are constantly discriminated in the federal courts system as well as being a factor that many federal judges use to convict the defendants as being
reasons such as lack of education, money and many more prevailing reasons. However, the crime that happens with poverty-stricken people results in the consideration of their economical state during criminal sentencing. For example, when going up against the jury as a poverty-stricken elder it may be hard to prove innocent when the elder does not have enough money to be represented by a good lawyer. During criminal trials, the factor of being poor does play a role in the decision of someone being innocent or not. Criminal trials are very expensive and who ultimately pays for it? The poor. As a result, who gets sentenced to the death penalty? The poor. This is because poor people do not have the money to help support themselves with a representative and so without good representation there is a greater chance that they will be convicted guilty. From all the talk within legislative assemblies, the majority of people who are selected to die are the poor. It is said that “ the poor are far more likely to receive the death sentence than are wealthy people accused of similar crimes. The problem, therefore, is dual-faceted in that poverty can lead to capital crime, and it makes capital punishment more likely”(Todd 1). Fundamentally the issue of the death penalty is not based on the ideals of someone being poor but rather the application of the death penalty. Poor people are constantly discriminated in the federal courts system as well as being a factor that many federal judges use to convict the defendants as being