Hi bpcyclist. I admire you, greatly, that you are writing about your experiences and that you have interest in the subject-mentioned topic. It is such an important one!

Wow, I could probably go on about my views for hours, but I've been struggling with my communication, lately.

The insanity defense is being used less and less, from what I read a couple years back. Am I right? I believe not nearly as often as it should. And even when it's used, it seems to do far less than it should. Normally I avoid referring to my blog, but I once wrote a post called "Why Jails & Prisons Shouldn't Be Mental Asylums". If you are interested in my post (no pressure), it is at Why Jails And Prisons Shouldn’t Be Mental Asylums – Bird Flight I included a good quoted section from Pete Earley's website. I recommend checking his website out. His book "Crazy: A Father’s Search Through America’s Mental Health Madness" is a must read, if you haven't already.

I am quite distressed about the demonization of the mentally ill who commit crimes. Also, there are so many mentally ill people, particularly poor mentally ill, that spend far too much time in jails and prisons. Pete Earley's book goes into this. Prison reform, in general, is a topic I'm passionate about. I've written to my congressmen and women many times about the topic. I am also a huge fan of Bryan Stevenson who works hard to prevent wrongful death row convictions and exceedingly long sentences for not only mentally ill in prisons, but others, as well. Again, the poor (and particularly minorities) are more vulnerable to such excessive sentences. It's racism as well, in way way too many cases!

I once wrote a blog post called "Hating is not fair" at Hating is not fair – Bird Flight which also discussed mentally ill in prisons/jails. It is also about stigma. Double standards regarding mental illness stigma are prevalent. For example, both bipolar disorder and various impulse and conduct disorders are included in the DSM-5, but it is not uncommon that a person with bipolar disorder would stigmatize people with other DSM diagnoses. One comment below this mentioned blog post shows that. I know that commenter. He is a good man, but sees some things differently than I do.

Children charged as adults for crimes?!?!?! I think it's an atrocity! Honestly, it blows my mind that they do that.

I never knew my father-in-law. He was 52 when my husband was born, and my husband was in his late 30s when he married me. His father was both a psychiatrist and neurologist back in his day. As a portion of his job, he appeared in courts in cases where insanity pleas were brought up. He would testify either in support or not of the pleas. That was long ago in Czechoslovakia. In many cases, where insanity was clear, the defendant was not put in prison. They were sent to psychiatric institutions. In many cases, when they were treated properly and recovered sufficiently they were eventually released, depending on the severity of the offense. Mentally ill who commit crimes in the US are in a much worse situation, usually, than the same who would commit crimes in most countries of Europe, nowadays. In this respect, the US can be one mean-*** country! And with the possible continuation of the current situation, it could get even meaner.