Atkins v. Virginia

Atkins v. Virginia, 536 U.S. 304 (2002), is a landmark U.S. Supreme Court death-penalty decision concerning categorical bar on executing people with intellectual disability.

Background

The case reached the Supreme Court through a capital prosecution and required the justices to define how constitutional protections apply when a state seeks or carries out a death sentence. It sits within the modern line of cases interpreting the Eighth Amendment and, where relevant, the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments.

Supreme Court ruling

Executing people with intellectual disability violates the Eighth Amendment.

Why it matters

The decision became part of the operating constitutional framework for American capital punishment. Later courts, defense lawyers, prosecutors and corrections agencies have had to account for its rule when evaluating death eligibility, sentencing procedure or execution protocols.

Citation

536 U.S. 304 (2002) — decided 2002-06-20.

Sources

– U.S. Supreme Court — Atkins v. Virginia, 536 U.S. 304 (2002) (opinion via Justia)