Replies

Thanks for all the detailed info.

This is a bad decision. I worked for several years in a group home for retarded adults, and I agree that the retarded are not exactly like anybody else. However, there are two points here:

A real effort has been made to portray many of these people as organically retarded, when what they really suffer from is severe cultural deprivation (i.e., growing up in the home of a drug-using welfare mother). They function at the same level, with regard to impulse control, etc., but there's a difference. Low functioning people of normal intelligence know what's right and wrong, and I think that's been demonstrated again and again. In fact, people with the functional level of a 4 or 5 year old are aware of the concepts of right and wrong.

The other point is that the retarded are now expected to function in society, with no restrictions. (Once upon a time, there were residential programs for them, and their lives were fairly controlled.) If you are a functioning member of society, you get the freedom and benefits - and you also get the responsibility. One of these responsibilities is that of not murdering your fellow members of society.

Consequently, either the retarded should be brought back into situations where they are under heavy control, or they should, as are the rest of us, be responsible for their actions. You can't have it both ways.