Insane
Posted By Russ Emerson on January 11, 2011 at 1:33 pm
It took an infamous act of violence to raise the subject, but finally people are talking about what to do about the mentally ill: Hot Air: Is it time for a national debate on the mentally ill?
About seven years ago, I highlighted an incident which occurred in San Francisco, wherein a clearly ill homeless man attacked and rather severely injured a psychiatrist. The irony being that the American Psychological Association* (among others) had advocated against the practice of involuntary commitment.
Having re-read what I wrote in May 2003, I stand by it.
More at Ace of Spades HQ.
* The same people who, by the way, recently decided that perhaps Narcissist Personality Disorder ought not to be considered an illness.
I was reading a wacky comment thread on banning guns in one of the Arizona papers, and nobody seemed to have any idea that the police CAN take a person into custody, based on a complaint of erratic behavior, and drop them off for a mandatory psychological evaluation. Then they are taken before a judge who decides, based on the professional advice from the evaluation, whether they potentially represent a threat to themselves and others. If so ruled, then they go through a further process of evaluation, are given defense council, and get their day in court, either being released, put on court mandated out-treatment and monitoring (which happened to the Virginia Tech shooter) or are ruled a danger to themselves and others, which strips them of their right to own or possess a gun and usually lands them in a state mental hospital.
That whole process could’ve been initiated on numerous occassions by Sheriff Dupnik’s department and they failed to take action, leaving a ticking time bomb on the streets.