Free Republic

Two days ago, An elderly woman was murdered in front of her sister and onlookers on LA's metro gold line station in Little Tokyo. The station, recently opened a year ago under the new gold line extension into east LA now has its first big incident. An insane drug addicted and mentally ill homeless woman is now in custody for committing the murder. The killer, a woman named Jackkqueline Pogue committed the offense has a long history of mental illness not to mention an even longer criminal history. She had been thrown out of just about every shelter and welfare...

Two days ago, An elderly woman was murdered in front of her sister and onlookers on LA's metro gold line station in Little Tokyo. The station, recently opened a year ago under the new gold line extension into east LA now has its first big incident. An insane drug addicted and mentally ill homeless woman is now in custody for committing the murder. The killer, a woman named Jackkqueline Pogue committed the offense has a long history of mental illness not to mention an even longer criminal history. She had been thrown out of just about every shelter and welfare...

On several forums and blogs such a freerepublic, there have been debates about civil commitment and expanding laws and state hospitals and hospital psyche wards. What is disturbing is that many, even Conservatives and libertarians are more than willing to sacrifice civil liberties and safeguards against government tyranny to clear the streets of the homeless mentally ill and other similar individuals. But the truth is that there is on the books in nearly every state, provisions that allow the involuntary commitment of those who are unable to care for themselves due to so called mental illnesses that they suffer from...

Some county attorneys advocate a return to open-ended sentences in Minnesota for dangerous sex offenders as the best way to keep them off the streets and the public safe. Under the current fixed-sentence system, they say, most dangerous sex offenders leave prison at some point, forcing prosecutors to seek civil commitments to put them in state-run treatment centers. But the civil-commitment process can be difficult and