Posted by oracle on July 22, 2002, at 23:04:41
In reply to Why are we imprisoning chemically unballanced peop, posted by linkadge on July 22, 2002, at 14:48:16
In a work (or two) "Who is going to pay?"
Disability does not excuse the action but
it does explain it. Many mentally ill
do manage to not commit felonies. I am
not doubting that there is a direct
connection between mental illness and
crime. But wrong is wrong, once you start
killing and sealing, you are removed from society
and loose rights. Jail clearly makes things worse,
at the individual level. Society is safer for a while but jail
makes better criminals.I see no reason why we should expect any success
by trying to solve this problem once someone is serving
time. We do have to try, but it is easier to move a mule from the front
than the back. We need more staff in the schools
so we can spot these problems very early. We need
to fund schools so if a kid is not getting whatever
they need from home, there is someone at school meeting
this need. We have fooled ourselves with "quality time".How do we get our governments to see that we pay little to solve these problems
when they are young or pay more for the violence, legal proceedings,
and years of board and keep in jail when they are adults ?"Who is going to pay?"
Just a bit of the Royal Dutchy, a relic or 2 from the Holy See,
A part of Enron's or WCOM's loss, a few less high tech bombs,
or decide not to go to Mars this year, perhaps.
poster:oracle
thread:113282
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020718/msgs/113372.html