Death and Dumb: The usually

Death and Dumb: The usually astute James Q. Wilson has written what is, even by his high standards, an unusually astute analysis of the issues involved in the recent Supreme Court case banning the execution of the mentally retarded. (Wilson’s article was written a year ago and has just been republished because it was both prescient and perceptive.) Stop reading this and go read that, even if you don’t come back.

Now, for those of you who obviously don’t take good advice (or the stray who has gone to read Wilson and returned), here is a small irony to ponder: do the folks who habitually oppose standardized tests as culturally biased, invalid, etc., think IQ tests have enough validity to save a convicted murderer from the chair or lethal injection?

As Wilson makes abundantly clear, a key issue in determining retardation is IQ, and the most common method of determining it is through standardized tests. (Some states also empower court-appointed experts to make the determination, but they often rely heavily on standardized tests.)

Standardized tests do not have a good reputation in the liberal community these days, but I must have missed the outcry against the increased reliance that will now be put on them. I also wonder whether dumb white murderers who are deemed un-retarded enough to die will, relying on the extensive liberal anti-testing and anti-Bell Curve literature, argue that they are victims of discriminatory tests that by design or effect are more likely to find low IQ among blacks.

Say What?