Criminal Competencies and Extreme Racial Views

[摘要] competencyself-representationextremismmitigationcapital punishmentracismExtreme Racial Views That Affect Decision Making Do Not Necessarily Render an Individual Incompetent to Stand Trial or Negate a Right to Self-RepresentationIn United States v. Roof, 10 F.4th 314 (4th Cir. 2021), Dylan Roof challenged his conviction and death sentence on religious obstruction and firearm counts. Mr. Roof argued that the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina erroneously found him competent to stand trial and erred in granting his motion to proceed pro se during the penalty phase of his conviction. The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals held that the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina did not err in determining that Mr. Roof was competent to stand trial or by granting Mr. Roof’s motion to dismiss his counsel and proceed pro se. The Fourth Circuit further rejected Mr. Roof’s challenges of alleged errors involving the validity of his conviction under the federal religious-obstruction statute and procedural errors related to his death verdict.

[学科分类] 儿科学

[关键词] competency;self-representation;extremism;mitigation;capital punishment;racism