I know a lot of people are irritated at the tendency to label white criminals as mentally ill while saying black people did it on purpose, but my take is that someone with extreme or habitual criminality most likely IS mentally ill--at minimum they have one of the personality disorders (like being a sociopath) which means their thinking is all wired wrong. Rather than take *everybody* out back and shoot them when they do something like this, I think we need to be more compassionate to *everybody*. Not just white guys. And as always I dont need the lecture about how mentally ill people are more likely to be victims of violence than perpetrators of it. That is actually true of ALL people, not just mentally ill people, because those who commit violence usually have multiple victims, either all at one go or over time. So the math adds up. Duly noted, but it doesnt negate the fact of some mentally ill people snapping and doing horrible things. (See also Andrea Yates.) Its like the difference between having a cold and having Ebola. Some mental illnesses kill. Some dont.
Posted on: Fri, 19 Dec 2014 22:21:54 +0000