Dealing with the violent mentally ill -- the system isn't working

[theHandpuppet]

I'm posting an excerpt from this article in the Cincinnati Enquirer. Obviously the existing system for dealing with the violent mentally ill failed here, and 93 year old Ida Martin paid the price.

I don't know what the solution is, but when those who are found "not guilty" of violent crimes by reason of insanity, then they can't be released into society without strict monitoring. Nor can you expect those who must be on medications to do the rational thing and take those medications as directed. I personally know a family who for years lived in abject terror of a schizophrenic and violent family member who shuffled in and out of psychiatric hospitals and each time he was released, refused his meds and became violent.

I assume the laws differ from state to state but I'm sure this issue is a complicated one -- at what point do you tread on the rights of the violent mentally ill at the expense of others? Was there simply a failure to monitor offenders such as James House? Did the police drop the ball when, as the article states, they "noted House was involved in a July 22 incident there where he was found walking near his Losantiville Avenue apartment wearing a bandana and carrying a steak knife. They took the knife away from him and let him go."? But if he committed no crime, you can't really hold him.

Like I said, I don't know what the solution is but the current system isn't working. Mr. House has once again entered a not guilty plea.

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20091102/NEWS0107/311020035/0/SPT0101/Man-indicted-in-death-of-woman--93

Man indicted in death of elderly woman
James House III was indicted Monday following his arrest for the Oct. 20 fatal stabbing of a 93-year-old woman.

A Hamilton County grand jury indicted House, 28, on a charge of aggravated murder, carrying a maximum sentence of life sentence without the possibility of parole.

House is accused of stabbing Ida Martin to death on the sidewalk near her Roselawn home. He was arrested the next day.

<snipping>

House was released June 1, 2008, from a mental facility where he spent 10 years after a similar incident where he stabbed a woman in 1998 but was found not guilty by reason of insanity. All court oversight of House ended a year later, this June.

Martin’s death sparked a debate over House’s case between judges. Hamilton County Common Pleas Court Judge Ralph “Ted” Winkler said he recommended House be monitored by the Probate Court after he was released from the state-run mental hospital, but that court declined to accept the case because no one deemed House a danger to himself or others.... MORE

[Sinti]

1. I never have understood this

how can you be "not guilty" by reason of insanity? Wouldn't you be "guilty" by reason of insanity? Aren't all killers technically insane? I thought the not guilty one was for temporary insanity, the example being a man who comes home and finds his wife in bed with another man and kills him - this type of crime is considered lesser, because he's not a danger to the general public.

Do we really think the Ted Bundys of the world are sane persons? The whole thing is a farce, IMO, and gives crazy people a bad name (the vast majority of whom are harmless - often more harmless than the so-called sane).

[Taverner]

2. My question to this is: We have a system?

As I understood it, we have no infrastructure to deal with mental illness. If you are rich, your parents can put you up in a private institution. But for the most part, if you are mentally ill, welcome to the world of homelessness.

Most people don't realize that a good number of the "street" homeless are mentally ill

[AllentownJake]

3. When you base your legal reasoning on 19th century Brittish law

and you live in a world with 21st century knowledge this is what you get.

[Cetacea]

4. Mentally ill population is less violent than general population.

There are criminals and there is the rest of the population.

[theHandpuppet]

6. That's not how the law sees it

"There are criminals and there is the rest of the population."

Because the law is not the same for all violent criminals, i.e., sentencing differs for those judged not guilty of violent crimes by reason of insanity.

I'm not debating whether or not the mentally ill population is less violent than the general population. My point is that the current system for dealing with the violent mentally ill simply isn't working.

[Cetacea]

7. Aren't many violent criminals released on reduced sentences?

I am not disagreeing with you. I am just perplexed as to how sentencing works with ALL violent crimes. I was just pointing out a bias in the media regarding violence and the mentally ill. Wrong thread to do it in. Sorry about that.

[theHandpuppet]

8. No prob...

Frankly, I think it's maddening how sentencing guidelines can vary from state to state.

[elleng]

5. no one deemed House a danger to himself or others

cuckoo's nest.