Controversy of an IQ Test

Courts are trying to determine if the IQ test is enough to say a person is mentally disabled. One such case is with Freddie Lee hall, a 68 year old Floridian man, who is an inmate on death row. Recently, he tested 69-74 with an IQ test. When out on probation, he murdered 21 year old Karol Hurst, who was abducted leaving a Florida grocery store in 1978; she was pregnant.

Hall has been considered mentally challenged since the 1950s. A Floridian with an IQ of 70 is considered not mentally disabled. That score is widely accepted as a marker of mental disability, but medical professionals say people who score as high as 75 can be considered intellectually disabled. Hall has been imprisoned the last 35 years. Hall was also convicted of killing a sheriff’s deputy. Psychiatrists and psychologists are saying an IQ test is not enough to determine mental disability.

Hall’s guilt is not an issue before the court. This is all happening 12 years after the Supreme Court barred execution of the mentally disabled.

In another case, The Atkins case, an inmate had an IQ score of 59. The court held that execution is a violation of the Eighth Amendment when it comes to the mentally disabled. It is considered cruel and unusual punishment. Seth Waxman, defense lawyer of Hall, says the cut off of 70 for being mentally disabled does not allow for errors in administering the IQ test.

Freshman, Mary Wipfli says “In my opinion, the mentally ill should be responsible for what they do because we cant just go punishing their caretakers or the places they escape from for things they do. “