http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willie_Horton
The only good thing about this is that it ended Michael Dukakis’ presidential ambitions. But this kind of liberal thinking keeps on giving. A VP at a Fortune 500 company I worked at was trying to put in place a policy of hiring convicted felons over all others regardless of qualifications, “because they’ve paid for their crimes and deserve a break.” I said, “Don’t the people who have worked hard, kept their noses clean and now need a job deserve a break too?” They didn’t matter in her world.
People in situations this bad must be watched. Nobody’s watching.
The states are unable (because of the ACLU, and former abuses) and unwilling (because it is expensive), to put the dangerously mentally ill, “threatening harm to themselves or others” in insane asylums.
And Americans are *definitely* frightened of the idea of a federally run insane asylum, with good cause.
So the best solution might be to set up “regional” insane asylums. With say, five states dividing the costs, as well as paying for each person sent by their state, and one of the five hosting the asylum in a semi-rural but accessible area.
And lots of independent checks before a person can be committed there, as well as be released from there.
Each of these institutions would be subdivided into parts, that largest of which would be for the elderly and others suffering from dementia, persistent coma, and other incapacitating mental deficiency. Demographically, the vast majority would be women.
The next part would be for the treatable mentally ill who are aware of and cooperative with their treatment, but who cannot function in the outside world. It is mostly a minimum security section for their protection. Many there would be intellectually deficient or emotionally fragile.
The third part are for the untreatable who are in slow decline. It is medium security, and the people who are put there are currently put in prison, but are “not guilty by reason of insanity.”
The fourth part is for the “guilty but insane”, as well as those who are an imminent threat to others. They are in maximum security, and except for the rare instance, they are in for life.
To be put in this regional institution, there would first have to be a local diagnosis of mental illness affirmed by a court, then a second, independent state level diagnosis, also affirmed by a state court, followed by a regional diagnosis by psychiatrists from each of the participating states. Without all three, they cannot get admission.
The same with releasing those judged no longer mentally ill. First the regional committee, then the state, before they could return to their home. Local approval would not be needed, however.