S e c o n d e d I t I o n 1 Reading for the Real World 1

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quite a few prisoners. Even though more 
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________________ methods of 
execution, such as lethal injection, have been found to execute prisoners, there are 
other points opponents still debate about the death penalty. For example, the 
innocence of some prisoners on death row has been 
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through DNA testing. 
routinely 
firing 
squad 
execute
humane 
verified 
inmates

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upplemental Reading
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M 
entally challenged people have IQs of below seventy. Many mentally 
challenged people with IQs of fifty-five and above can hold jobs, 
have children, and do many things that “normal” people do. They 
even commit murder and other crimes. When mentally challenged people 
commit crimes and are convicted, is it fair to put them to death, as other 
criminals are sentenced to death? This is a question that American people and 
their courts have struggled with for many years. However, in recent years, it 
seems that the majority of Americans have come closer to agreement on the 
issue. Many people now think that putting mentally challenged people to death 
is a “cruel and unusual” punishment. 
Daryl Atkins had an IQ of fifty-nine. In the late 1990s, 
Atkins was found guilty of killing a person and was given 
the death penalty in Virginia. His case was appealed all the 
way up to the Supreme Court. In 2002, the court ruled that 
Atkins and other mentally challenged persons may not be 
executed. This decision opposed a 1989 Supreme Court 
decision that said mentally challenged persons may be 
executed. Since 1976, approximately thirty-five mentally 
challenged people have been executed in the United States.
In the 2002 decision, the court said that the nation had come to a 
consensus against executing the mentally challenged. They said it is unfair to 
execute someone who cannot fully understand how bad their actions were. It is a 
violation of the US Constitution’s ban against “cruel and unusual punishment.”