There’s no reason why people who are flat-out insane shouldn’t be kept in a secure institution permanently. If medication seems to be working while they’re in an institution, or their symptoms actually subside even without medication, then it can make sense to try, cautiously, putting them back out in society under close supervision, and if that works well for a significant length of time, then without supervision. Back when this nation was founded, it was accepted as just plain common sense that utterly insane people shouldn’t be left to their own devices. How do we imagine that it’s now somehow “unconsitutional” to lock up them up long term or permanently, after proper court proceedings with medical professionals and others testifying?
Frankly, we have a much better handle now on what types of illness are likely to eventually subside and which ones certainly aren’t. Schizophrenia, for example, simply doesn’t go away, and when it’s advanced enough to be causing serious symptoms where the person is disconnected from reality, then medication is not a sufficient answer even if it seems to work, because a missed dose can bring the symptoms back quickly and leave the person believing s/he shouldn’t take any more medication or see any doctors.
There is no legal basis for the claim that society can’t take away a person’s freedom unless they first commit a crime. We do it all the time, and should do it more. When someone is profoundly retarded, they are either institutionalized or put under the care of a legal guardian when they reach age 18, and they are not free to go wherever they wish or handle their own financial matters. When an elderly person has Alzheimer’s and stops recognizing family and friends, we don’t wait for them to kill someone in their family who they mistook for a burglar, before we take away their freedom and have them either kept under lock and key at home by a relative or put them in an institution where they will find locked doors if they try to wander away and will not be allowed access to anything they could use to seriously harm someone.
You sure are big on Big Brother running everybody’s life for them,, aren’t you?
There IS a reason why people who are “flat-out insane” aren’t kept in an institution permanently....
Its the Public National Law Enacted and passed in 1963 that CLOSED ALL THE STATE MENTAL INSTITUTIONS AND CREATED COMMUNITY MENTAL HEALTH OUTPATIENT CENTERS.
THE LAW ALSO says you have TO determine the person is a clear danger to self or others at that time...you can keep them for up to 72hours, they are re-evaluated to keep them longer, evry 72 hrs...Once that situation has passed they are released.
LOOK FOLKS! We closed the state mental institutions CAUSE IT WAS COSTING TO MUCH MONEY—not only cause they were awful places. WE put people in the community ( ie “home “ or homeless) and then don’t fund those programs..CAUSE IT COSTS TOO MUCH IN TAXES!.
That’s the reality.
DEAL WITH IT,
QUIT WHINING OR CHANGE THE LAWS AND FUND THE TREATMENT OF SICK PEOPLE!