I don’t know if Nidal Hasan is a good example if this or not, but there are plenty that are. A lot of the crimes are not big bloodbaths but one-no one assaults that may not kill anybody but are still plenty inconvenient for the victim. I cited an example on another thread of a woman who was assaulted and fairly seriously injured in front of her 6 year old. In another a baby was punched by a stranger. At that writing they didnt know if the baby was permanently damaged. Pay more careful to the police and crime stories in your town or city and you will notice this stuff. Invariably the person has heard voices telling them somebody was possessed or something.Not to mention all the civility and nuisance issues of having people sleeping, urinating, defecating, etc. in parks, bus shelters, and other public spaces. A cities response may be to remove bus shelters and seats, which of course punishes the law-abiding elderly and disabled. I could write a book. Why do you think that cities like Seattle have become so unpleasant to visit especially if you use public transportation?
In the 80s Frank Adams had a long series in the Great Falls Trubune about abuses in the involuntary commitment system. He cited at least one case where it had been abused for political purposes (in Montana, though it was more common in the former Soviet Union)and Americans are deathly afraid of this especially because in the movies the mentally ill are often romanticized(see Madness in the Streets by Rael Jean Isaac) And there’s always the possibility of people being commited by agendized spouses or family members. But as with the Death penalty, child protective services or other touchy legal issues, we will have to do the best we can.
If you dig into the Nidal Hassan story, he was indeed displaying behaviors that should have resulted in treatment and removal from duty, but his superiors and co-workers were afraid of PC accusations of racial or religious discrimination, so nothing was done until he went full terrorist/psycho meltdown.
We had a case here in Germany recently, where a guy was committed by his wife, with the approval of the local judge to a mental facility...for at least eight years.
The problem was that he came around to discovering his wife (who was a big player in some local business) was screwing over folks. He committed about this, and the wife got the idea that she could prove he was stressed out (he may have been a bit stressed), and needed long-term institution care. What ended up happening...was permanent, not a six-month rest period.
So he fought against the system, and found there was virtually no way to get out. Someone eventually picked up his case...brought it up to public light (with media help), and a lawyer got him free. The judge who signed off? Nothing yet? The wife? Simply under investigation...she may never spend a day in jail.
This shocked Germans to a fair degree...normal level-headed guy, sent off to a nut-house. So there’s talk of making one or two steps even more difficult than it was before.