This fact sheet uses a question-and-answer format to summarize issues related to people with mental retardation in the criminal justice system. Questions and answers address the following topics: the number of people with mental retardation in the criminal justice system (2 to 10 percent of the prison population is mentally retarded); whether people with mental retardation actually commit crimes more often than other people; the types of crimes people with mental retardation are commonly charged with (misdemeanors and less serious felonies); disadvantages faced by people with mental retardation in the criminal justice system (such as pretending to understand when they do not); the death penalty and people with mental retardation (many major organizations urge abolishing the death penalty for people with this disability); people with mental retardation are more frequent victims of crime; and ways to protect the rights of someone with mental retardation. (Contains 15 references.) (DB)