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Originally Posted by still_crazy
i dunno. i kinda think that even -some- people who kill people get NGRI'd should be released, eventually. i mean...if someone had a downward spiral, ended up shooting somebody, turns out they were teetering on the edge of psychosis for a while, nobody helped...why keep them indefinitely if they -can- be treated and they -can- be rehabilitated? i read a 1st hand NGRI account from a lady in another state...downward spiral, 2 or 3 short lived marriages, not a -bad person- , just sick...got ever more sick...ended up shooting a stranger because of paranoia or something, I dunno. anyway, it sounds like the state hospital wherever she was kept her for 10ish years, she got out, she can deal with things now, and I'm thinking...
well, I'm OK with it. I think. beats locking her up in prison for 30 years and expecting her to function in that environment, then somehow function in society with minimal support. of course, if US prisons were revamped to be more about rehabilitation vs creating more clever, hardened criminals...
maybe the treatment vs prison debate wouldn't be such a big deal, anyway? undoubtedly, there are some people who just should not be in society. hospitals, prisons, whatever...its risk management. that doesn't mean prisons should be hell holes, even for people with long sentences. of course...state hospitals can be hellish, too....worse in some areas than others, of course.
blah. honestly, this discussion has taken a turn for the horribly depressing. :-(
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I don't see it as all depressing. As slow as changes often are, I actually see some positives happening in the future.
A while back, I read a book called "Crazy: A Father's Search Through America's Mental Health Madness", by Pete Earley. Pete Earley is a journalist whose son, then a young adult, had his first psychotic manic break and went into a stranger's house and destroyed a lot of the property within. His son was faced with a jail sentence. Of course Pete Earley was desperate to prevent that. But putting that aside, it inspired him to look at the issue of the mentally ill in jails and prisons. What he discovered was disturbing. That book inspired my interest in this topic. Along the way, however, I also discovered people who are making improvements. One such person is Bryan Stevenson. You can look him up, if you're interested, but I will just conclude with a quote of his that I like.
“I’ve come to understand and to believe that each of us is more than the worst thing we’ve ever done. I believe that for every person on the planet. I think if somebody tells a lie, they’re not just a liar. I think if somebody takes something that doesn’t belong to them, they’re not just a thief. I think even if you kill someone, you’re not just a killer. And because of that, there’s this basic human dignity that must be respected by law.” – Bryan Stevenson
Bryan Stevenson has been a hero, in my view. He's given many talks, including a TED Talk and as a guest on the old Charlie Rose program on PBS.[What people think of Charlie Rose is totally irrelevant to this.] Bryan has written books, including one called "Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption". His quote above applies to everyone. Everyone.