No- the problem was then and is now that Demand quickly outstrips Supply. (See my profile link to Jarvis Law). Jail cells fill up quickly as the spillover valve. Every State in the Union built such elaborate facilities in the late 1800s/early 1900s. Check out Chattahoochee Florida, Traverse City,Michigan “Insane Asylums” fit for Royalty back in the day. The Elite influencers at that time had family members who were deemed insane and needed to be removed from Society for whatever reason, but wanted humane treatment...
There is no Good answer to this Evil walking among us. Cain suffered Banishment for his crime of jealous murder against his own innocent brother. Even God couldn’t let him be killed for his punishment. Can such people ever be rehabilitated to the point of trusting them in Society again after their heinous crime? The flatline Zombies, the temporarily insane Crimes of Passion types, the falsely accused fall-guys who are wacky in some unacceptable way, what do? MkUltra for the good of Society?
Should the Guilty mad dogs regardless of whether the Devil made him do it be executed expeditiously and put out of everyone’s misery? Restrictive environments provide protection and monitoring, but is this also Cruel & Inhumane to do to someone for 20, 30, 40 years.
The modern anti-psychotic & anti-depressant drugs have acknowledged “side effects” of homicidal / suicidal ideation. People report these symptoms and want off the drugs and do better. Some who stay on the drugs kill their babies or themselves or innocent others, etc etc. This is the discussion that goes unaddressed by the Medical Experts, but the Victims and Society deserve answers about the impact of these dangerous drugs.
It’s a messed up world and there’s nothing new under the Sun. Check out Peter O’Toole’s movie from the ‘60s called “The Ruling Class.” Amazing it ever got released for We Peasants to view.
We just got back from three weeks in Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England. The last stop on our big tour was a tour of Buckingham Palace. I was absolutely disgusted by the staggering wealth and trappings of “royalty” and the hereditary system that continues that. Oliver Cromwell tried to abolish the royalty and aristocracy long ago but failed.
You listed a lot of the failures from the 1960s to today. But the abolition of involuntary commitment and the turning loose of millions of mentally ill people combined with lax government fighting the scourge of drugs has brought us to the worst possible place imaginable in 2025. Building of mental hospitals, vagrancy laws, and cheap flop houses made the USA a lot more livable in the past. Letting people out of mental hospitals in the name of “compassion” and the federalization of care has been a disaster.
I still find it amazing that the country developed a good (not perfect) solution in the second half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century. But “enlightened” modern man destroyed what our ancestors developed and was proven to work.