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The simplest explanation is that we, as a society, have to pinpoint a "reason" why something bad and deplorable happens in order for it to make sense in our minds. For instance, when we hear about some horrible act, the first question on most people's mind is "How is that person DIFFERENT from me?" In other words, the brain needs to isolate some factor, however small, to differentiate that person from the rest of civilized society, especially ourselves.
When a person is of the same race or gender or sexual orientation that we, the viewer, are, it is harder to make this kind of mental separation. The media does a good job of "giving" us a reason by running most of these stories into the ground so we all but know somebody's shoe size by the time they are no longer in the public eye. The purpose of that kind of media coverage is to help society, as a whole, compartmentalize that individual into some safe box - usually mental illness, but it could be any number of labels. Then, we can all *safely* go back to life as we knew it before some random act of violence happened.
Keep in mind, though, the above approach is not working and more and more people are "falling through the cracks" because we, as a society, are not really addressing the issue/s that causes someone to transition from being upset with X to exploding on society in some way. We will continue to be plagued by more seemingly random violence as we move away farther away from socialization and connectedness with those around us.
I think it should be noted the difference between mental illness and personality disorders. As noted, people who get off due to mental illness in the legal system have to prove they didn't know what they were doing was wrong. (Think schizophrenia). People with personality disorders know what they are doing is wrong, but don't care. (Think psychopath). There is no treatment for personality disorders and no getting better with medicine.
Because people are loathe to accept personal responsibility for anything.
Also, claiming mental defect is a favorite tactic of defense lawyers.
Someone committing an "evil" crime doesn't give a damn about "personal responsibility" nor do they usually want an excuse for their actions (unless they are trying to claim they are innocent) your comment makes absolutely no sense and that's coming from a staunch libertarian. Someone who has absolutely no regard for civilized society and doesn't want to live in it doesn't give a damn about anything you listed...People who want to prey on innocents in society have existed throughout human history it's not a modern phenomenon do to a lack of "personal responsibility" or whatever nonsense....Open your eyes...This is the most civilized time period in human history by far.
Why the hell would someone who wants to kill a huge amount of people or rape or whatever care about "personal responsibility".....They are following whatever demented thought process wants them to do that horrible crime. Just like people who committed those crimes in the year 200AD did.
Either way a bullet to the head is the best solution for a murderer or serious violent criminal.
I think it should be noted the difference between mental illness and personality disorders. As noted, people who get off due to mental illness in the legal system have to prove they didn't know what they were doing was wrong. (Think schizophrenia). People with personality disorders know what they are doing is wrong, but don't care. (Think psychopath). There is no treatment for personality disorders and no getting better with medicine.
There is no accepted treatment for sociopaths (Antisocial personality disorder) but there are several other personality disorders such as Borderline, Avoidant, Schizoid, Schizotypal, etc. for which there are various forms of treatment though none are considered 'curable' and none have overly favorable prognoses but combinations of medication and psychotherapy are generally used for treatment with these other personality disorders...they often are 'co-morbid' with other conditions such as bipolar disorder or depression.
Psychopaths are considered non-treatable and when it is attempted (foolishly) they will manipulate the situation by telling the therapist 'what they want to hear' and yet not change their ways at all, except by attempting to evade detection in the future. They are exceedingly manipulative and dangerous; probably of any 'personality disorder', this one has the most basis in bad/non-existent mother-child bonding than any of the others.
As for legal insanity, schizophrenia (there are different subtypes) is a common condition for one deemed to not know what they were doing was wrong, but also those considered mentally deficient (ie mental retardation) or a manic episode can also be cause and again personality disorders are not uncommonly found with these conditions as well....there is debate as to weather this is the best classification system (for personality disorders) as some clearly have a genetic basis and much knowledge has been gained in the last 20 years which make us understand them better than when these classifications and criteria were first compiled.
Last edited by Austin023; 04-22-2014 at 06:39 AM..
People are not born bad. Their environment turns them that way. Some people are born with the gene for mental illness. Others become mentally ill due to the way they have been treated or their miserable life. Anger and hatred toward others usually are what drive people to do deplorable acts. Normal people do not do deplorable acts when they are angry or intensely dislike someone. Mentally ill people are capable of acting on these emotions as they are out of control. There is a lot more mental illness in this world than most people are aware of.
I think it should be noted the difference between mental illness and personality disorders. As noted, people who get off due to mental illness in the legal system have to prove they didn't know what they were doing was wrong. (Think schizophrenia). People with personality disorders know what they are doing is wrong, but don't care. (Think psychopath). There is no treatment for personality disorders and no getting better with medicine.
Wow, a lot of judgment is being passed around on this thread by people who have no idea what they are talking about. Your last statement is the most inaccurate of them all. Personality disorders are resistant to treatment, however, therapy and medication is very helpful in most every psychiatric disorder. This is especially true in persons with personality disorders who have other concomitant disorders. A person who is found not guilty by reason of insanity doesn't "get off" due to mental illness. They are confined to a mental hospital for years, sometimes for a lifetime. That is no walk in the park either. It serves as a punishment + treatment for the individual.
Mental illness is just that: an ILLNESS. However, because it is invisible and involves behavioral problems rather than physical ones, there is a stigma still attached to it, where people assume mentally ill people are bad, lazy, or weak. Nothing could be further from the truth.
I think many people have great difficulty accepting the idea of evil, and it is more comfortable to obscure it with the cover of "mental illness." We need to believe that evil is a matter of some unnatural glitch in the human being, i.e. insanity.
It feels much better to assume that anyone who does anything wrong had a reason - mental illness, mistreatment as a child, etc - than to hold them actually responsible for what they have done (which would require admitting that truly crappy people do exist).
People are not born bad. Their environment turns them that way. Some people are born with the gene for mental illness. Others become mentally ill due to the way they have been treated or their miserable life. Anger and hatred toward others usually are what drive people to do deplorable acts. Normal people do not do deplorable acts when they are angry or intensely dislike someone. Mentally ill people are capable of acting on these emotions as they are out of control. There is a lot more mental illness in this world than most people are aware of.
This is the fakery and falsehood that is bandied about that is so freakin' dangerous. Giving anyone an excuse to do whatever evil act they want.
None of the above is true. But it sure is awfully politically correct.
Wow, a lot of judgment is being passed around on this thread by people who have no idea what they are talking about. Your last statement is the most inaccurate of them all. Personality disorders are resistant to treatment, however, therapy and medication is very helpful in most every psychiatric disorder. This is especially true in persons with personality disorders who have other concomitant disorders. A person who is found not guilty by reason of insanity doesn't "get off" due to mental illness. They are confined to a mental hospital for years, sometimes for a lifetime. That is no walk in the park either. It serves as a punishment + treatment for the individual.
Mental illness is just that: an ILLNESS. However, because it is invisible and involves behavioral problems rather than physical ones, there is a stigma still attached to it, where people assume mentally ill people are bad, lazy, or weak. Nothing could be further from the truth.
You took my post wrong. I was replying to people who think it is easy to "get off" due to mental illness when it is the furthest thing from the truth. In reality very few actually qualify and when they do, like you said, they are placed indefinitely into a mental health facility. I think it is sad our legal system makes it so easy to lock away people with mental illness and "throw away the key". Back in the day there were many mental hospitals that treated people horribly but instead of solving the problem we just closed them. No where else to go, no many are in prison or homeless. We didn't "solve" any problems, we just created another.
I think that the OP has it backward. In the U.S., at least, mental illness is rarely a convincing defense in major crimes. Sometime it is, for sure, but most of the time, I don't think so.
Two key points:
First, people who are found "not guilty by reason of insanity" (different wording in different states) are NOT set free. They are remanded to the custody of a mental hospital or other high-security inpatient treatment setting until such time as they recover their sanity. At that point another hearing is scheduled to determine next steps.
Second - and this is critical - the term 'insanity' is a legal term, not a medical one. It is not - repeat, not - a synonym for mental illness. Plenty of people who were diagnosed with severe mental illness have been legally judged as 'sane'.
Ted Bundy is an excellent example of someone who was never determined to be mentally ill or insane, but who was definitely "evil."
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Acts Due to Mental Illness
