Language Diversity in the Classroom - ymerleksi - home

90 Language Diversity in the ClassroomIt does indeed seem that fine-grained distinctions have been vital.When, in early August 2005, Daryl Atkins was found after all to bementally competent, 3 it was reported that his several IQ-test results were59, 67, 74 and 76. The resulting average score (69) would have seemed toexempt him, if only by a hair, from the ultimate penalty, since Virginialaw defines mental retardation as involving an IQ of 70 or below by theage of 18. Unfortunately, although Atkins was 18 when he committedmurder, the intelligence tests were administered after that age (Lindsey,2005). One needs neither judicial nor psychiatric genius to see theKafkaesque absurdity here.Although McKinzey’s (2005) concern that the Supreme Court rulingmight lead to attempts on the part of competent murderers to appearintellectually deficient seems not to have been borne out, the ruling hascertainly reopened a number of old cases. Many prisoners now on deathrow may be mentally retarded, and their cases must be reconsidered.More interestingly, contemporary and enlightened views suggest that thementally retarded are still individuals, that reduced criminal culpabilityarises from particular deficiencies that some may have and thatcategorical judgments are therefore unwarranted (Talbot, 2003). AsMossman (2005: 100) has put it, ‘mental retardation is an artificialcategory imposed on a spectrum of human capability’. At a very simplelevel, this is demonstrated by the fact that the professional criteria fordefining mental retardation have altered over the years: the AmericanAssociation on Mental Retardation (AAMR) has altered its definition 10times over the past century or so (Mossman, 2005). Relatedly, Talbot(2003) points out that a lowering of the IQ cut-off in 1973 meant that theproportion of the American population defined as mentally retardedimmediately dropped from 16 to 3%. Furthermore, the characterizationof mental retardation by the AAMR and the American PsychiatricAssociation (APA) is not the same; the former now stresses classificationin terms of levels of support needed, while the latter uses a moretraditional approach, grading degrees of general severity.The concerns and caveats become if possible even moreheightened when we discover that the Atkins decision was praised bythe mental health community (including the APA, the AAMR, theAmerican Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, the American PsychologicalAssociation and others). In fact, a representative of the APA’sjudicial committee particularly welcomed the decision, claiming that itwould raise no problems because ‘mental retardation can be identifiedusing time-tested instruments and protocols with proven validity andreliability’ (Mossmann, 2005: 99). Given what has already been discussed