Bad Santa. No, I mean REALLY Bad.

[Radar]

Originally Posted by morethanpretty

Wasn't Andrea Yates hearing voices? Clearly mentally ill. The mentally ill need treatment, not punishment. Kept away from society for the rest of their life? Probably necessary also.

I don't believe insanity is a valid defense or excuse and neither is being mentally retarded or chemically imbalanced. If she was crazy, fine. Don't tell her it's the electric chair. Tell her it's a roller coaster. Either way she's got to go.

[DanaC]

Originally Posted by Radar

I don't believe insanity is a valid defense or excuse and neither is being mentally retarded or chemically imbalanced. If she was crazy, fine. Don't tell her it's the electric chair. Tell her it's a roller coaster. Either way she's got to go.

First off, Radar that's totally fucked up. If someone doesn't have control over their faculties and actions then they cannot be held responsible for them.

Secondly, you can't not tell her its the electric chair, because you cannot legally execute someobody who is not aware of what's happening and why. There was a famous case about a decade ago (I can't recall the details) in which a severely mentally disturbed man was convicted of murder. He had, I believe, a very severe form of schizophrenia whch was partially controllable by medication. For some reason, I think he had no health insurance, though probably it was as much to do with his inability to function alone, he had stopped taking his meds and ended up killing someone.

This man was really out of it. He was sentenced to death and there was a legal requirement that he be medicated prior to the execution in order that he understand that he was being executed and why. After all, it is a punishment. If he is out of it, then he is unaware of his death and there is no punishment, merely a death.

Personally, I was really upset by the reports of that case. It stayed with me for a long time. Somewhere along the line, someone should have been ensuring that this young man stay on his medication. Someone should have been ensuring that he had somewhere safe and stable to stay. It is no surprise that when we abandon the mentally ill to the tender mercies of Care in the Community, many become a threat to themselves and some to themselves and others. That young man, just like the woman who was hearing voices, was executed because the system failed them.