Posted by Mark H. on March 13, 2002, at 20:37:52
In reply to Emotions, Understanding, ..., posted by Willow on March 13, 2002, at 19:31:53
Dear Willow,
This is a very heated and sad issue here for us as well. The defendant was floridly psychotic when she drowned her children -- everyone agrees on that, even those who sought her prosecution. Juries are afraid of acquitting psychotic defendants, because there are so few public facilities left to care for them.
There is a heartlessness in the criminal justice system here that is shameful. Somewhere between 25% and 30% of all prisoners in the United States are seriously mentally ill. Under our President Reagan, hundreds and hundreds of public mental facilities were closed, and the mentally ill were "mainstreamed" into "society."
Now there is nowhere to put people who cannot care for themselves, so the richest nation in the world has a vast population of "homeless" people, the highest percentage of its population incarcerated of any supposedly civilized country in the world, and hundreds of thousands of severely mentally ill persons languishing in jails and prisons without regular medical care. The future will rightfully condemn us for this grave failure.
And when it comes to upsetting postings -- you're right to skip them and move on without comment. The hardest thing some of us have had to learn is just to walk away.
I really appreciate your thoughtful apology.
With fondness,
Mark H.
poster:Mark H.
thread:3470
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20020308/msgs/3472.html