http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051124/NEWS01/511240312/1001
Tired of persecuting and convicting the mentally ill, Thomas Testa of San Joaquin County Deputy District Attorney office, has said enough is enough. Each of his cases deal with a victim dying “under heinous circumstances” as he says, with the perpetrator having to serve life sentences in a state prison or shipped off to a mental institution. At least for Testa it could have easily been avoided if either the family or a local agency made sure the perpetrator took their prescribed medicine in the proper amount. But as other attorneys and psychologists have articulated, the situation is not as simple as it seems. Despite the small population of mentally ill people that commit violent acts, they argue that there is disproportional attention in relation to the act. Evidence of this can be found in the frequency that these acts are exhibited in the narrative of the national media; as well as the fierce sentencing that occurred in response, in several of the cases they portray. Collins of the Health services alludes to the fact of the stigma that mentally ill violent offenders face: “Criminals first rather then fighting a chronic disease”.
Goffman in “Stigma and Social Identity”, gives us an inside glimpse into the sources and justification of Stigma and its effects within the framework of society. In it we can specifically classify mental illness as of the “discreditable” kind, and the notion that stigmatized individuals are constantly linked with their “defect” (in this case mental illness) in a way that is nonexistent in the traits of a normal person.
In the article it mentions that Testa holds family members accountable for not making sure their mentally ill relative takes his or her prescribed medicine. This makes me wonder if California law gives some relief to family members if they find themselves incapable of such a monumental task. Can they give up their inherited responsibility and hand someone over to the state? This is particularly if they present a threat or danger to society.
From what I understand someone who is mentally ill is subject to impulses that not everyone else is, but if this person is well aware of their condition and the repercussions if they choose not to take their medication, then they are subject to consequences. Maybe I’m not being fair, but you should be held accountable for such a choice.
If you’re mentally ill and you commit a crime should you not be considered a criminal? If you’re a dangerous person then there’s no reason you should have free will. If you’re truly mentally ill then you’ll be found incompetent to stand trial and then sent to a mental health hospital. It’s not jail.
It’s unfortunate that funding has dried up for programs such as the one mentioned. If people can really make a recovery then it sounds like the best solution in such a case. I can only assume that in the absence of such programs, those that are mentally ill found guilty of a crime are sent straight to jail, which does not seem all that humane.
When I was younger and more politically conservative, I too was one of the people who called for mentally ill people who committed crimes to be locked up in a jail, rather than a mental institution. This was a very strong belief that I held, and I felt like I had to attack and defend myself from people who disagreed with me. One reason for this is that I have family members who have almost been murdered by mentally ill people, and I therefore felt justified in wanting the harshest sentences and punishments imposed on these people. For me it was a matter of survival and protecting my family. What if a mentally ill person decided to harm me due to their illness? It was my fear also that drove my belief.
As I grew older and opened up to the world outside of myself and my immediate surroundings, I have tried to put myself in other people’s shoes and understand how they feel. So even though I myself don’t suffer from a mental illness, I can now imagine how confusing and terrifying it must be to have one. Furthermore, I have shifted my thinking of what prisons and mental institutions are. I think it’s part of Western culture to say that if a criminal goes to a hospital rather than a jail, that they ‘got away with their crime.’ I no longer feel this way. A mental hospital can be as much of a prison as a jail. Your bed and your ward become your prison cell. Just like in jail, your movement is restricted, and you are not free to leave. In hospitals, you are still surrounded by dangerous people, other patients who have delusions and psychotic fantasies. However, if it is possible that the inpatient can take anything positive out of the hospital experience and use it to better themselves, I feel it is better for them to be there than in a jail. After deeply examining my own feelings, I don’t really want someone to suffer for the rest of their lives, and I want them to get help if they are willing to receive it. I am a more sympathetic person now than I used to be.
– Kelly Reznick