Of Mice and Men

Current Events and Application of the "Lennie Standard"


Suggested Resources:

Moore vs. Texas - There are many references to this case, as well as the actual text of Supreme Court case, online. Here is a nice summary of it from the Constitution Accountability Center.

Justices Debate Definition of Intellectual Disability in Texas Death Row Case - From the newspaper Texas Tribune, so a very readable article about the case and the application of Ex Parte Briseno.

Atkins Case - A fine summary and link to full text of the case from LexisNexis, a database of cases.

Hall vs. Florida - Cornell University's Legal Information Institute provides a bulleted lists of main arguments in this case.

8th Amendment - Summary and history of the 8th Amendment, by the National Constitution Center

Ex Parte Briseno - An article from the American Bar Association titled "Supreme Court Finds Texas Briseno Factors for Establishing Intellectual Disability Unconstitutional." Helps to explain its definition and application.

Evaluating Intellectual Disability After the Moore v. Texas Redux - An article combining some of the cases and terminology by the Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law

IQ Tests - The Origins and History of IQ Tests from Interesting Engineering. Also includes a discussion of the relevance and controversies surrounding IQ tests.

Washington Laws regarding Intellectual Functioning and the Law - Try the search terms (notice the "-education" as there are lots of special education references): ~ washington state law "intellectual functioning" -education ~

Disabilities in the Criminal Justice System - An advocacy group, the Arc, provides a summary and explanation of the importance of considering disabilities within the law.

Marvin Wilson vs. Texas - An advocacy group, the ACLU (American Civil Liberties, Texas), explains the case