by Michael B. Ross

About the author: Michael B. Ross has been on Connecticut’s death row since June of 1987. Though currently under a stay of execution pending resolution of the appeals process, he expects to be executed before the year 2000.

The death penalty is an absolute punishment. If it is to be imposed at all, it should be imposed on people whose sense of responsibility and judgment is such that they fully appreciated the seriousness of what they were doing.

These words by David Bruck, a lawyer who has represented numerous capital defendants, appeared in the International Herald Tribune on June 23, 1987. Most people not only agree with the sentiment expressed but believe that only the most cunning and culpable of criminals are executed in this country—that the mentally ill and mentally...