Do you Care if James Holmes is "Insane"

Are you two guys kidding? People been studying these wackos for decades (centuries even) and we aren't a bit closer now to figuring them out than when all that started. Despite a few relatively common (not absolutely common) characteristics, each are fairly unique (driven by different mindsets, motivations, etc). At this point, it's pretty darn clear there isn't a magical formula which will prevent what they do.

 

Actually, the death penalty itself it dirt cheap (a few hundred dollars). It's the seemingly endless, intentionally dragged out, appeals (along with court-appointed attorneys paid throughout that, judges to hear dragged out arguments, meals, incarceration, etc) which cost so much money. If we set a reasonable time limit on those appeals (same number, just submitted & handled quicker), costs for that would go down substantially as well.

 

I understand appeals process and the need for it for some cases.. but When someone commits a crime, theire are witnesses/survivors, hard eveidence they are guilty, there is no being innocent then the process should just be sped up.

The other thing is this, How is it fair to the victims if a person say shoots and kills a few people, a cop stubles upon the evidence but the defense says it wasnt a legal search.. why should a killer be able to walk free if it was simply an honest mistake on the cops fault, or some other technacallity.

 

x2.

 

That's so off the mark it's just stupid silly and ignorant. We've made leaps and bounds in just the last decade in understanding of many mental health illnesses. One of the major ones is Bi-polar and all of it's various forms.

We've learned lots of things:

The vast majority of teens who commit suicide suffer from some sort of mental health disability. A very common ones are a few specific variations of Bi-Polar. (Manic Depression)

The majority of people who are addicted to drugs or alcohol also suffer form mental health illness. Again, a major culprit is Bi-Polar.

Also, you can now test for Bi-Polar. 10 years ago, it was a guess. Medicine has come a MILE in the treatment of Bi-Polar in the last decade.

These people don't choose to live this way they are born that way. They can be extremely intelligent but look at the world through a completely different "lens" than we do.

Look a this list: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_with_bipolar_disorder

Notice something? In the past a lot of these people during major mind altering states dove into their work. Famous artists, sculptors, painters, composers. The problem we have today is that the arts and crafts have died because our schools don't teach them. No one goes to school to be a sculptor. So these people end up in places they shouldn't be with no outlet.

Again, this is societies problem. Investing in mental health awareness, education and treatment should be one of the top priorities in this country.

I encourage anyone to watch this TED talk about education:
http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html

There's a reason this country isn't "winning" at anything anymore. We ignore major societal problems and argue about stupid shit instead. More people per capita in prisons than any other 1st world, or 3rd world, country. Lower education levels, obesity ... on and on and on.

In this specific case I'm not saying we baby this guy at all. I don't necessarily even care if they execute him. I would prefer they keep him locked up until they can determine what he has, if nothing... death row. If he is affected by something .. I say we lock him up and learn from it.

 

Study him while he's on death row and then off to the death penalty

 

No, your comments are just "so off the mark it's just stupid, silly, and ignorant." We've known about the mental and/or physical illnesses (twisted minds, drug use, etc) for decades, and, in some cases, even centuries. The questions have long focused on what to do about it. For example, how do we discover which specific illnesses lead to crime, how do we identify those individuals (from the rest of the wackos) before a crime, and how do we prevent those eventual crimes. And then there's the problem of the great many without clear mental & physical disorders.

Since these types of crimes (twisted, crazy, ones) appear to be steadily on the rise, not decline, one could very easily argue what we're doing now (your claims of recent great treatment for manic depression, drugs, etc) isn't working. In fact, absolutely nothing we've tried so far has worked - either to reliably identify potential criminals or prevent their crimes. Indeed, in a free society, that might not even be possible (one has a right to be a bit wacko).

Whatever the case, I can't see any real benefit at this point to keeping even more twisted criminals around to study. Instead, we need get them out of the way, if for no reason other than to minimize the impact on our pocketbooks.

 

My choice wasn't on the list. Murderers should suffer for each of their victims, and then be put to death. Eye for an eye.

 

Ignorance. Educate yourself sir.

Considering we just passed legislation that forces employers to treat mental health care from the neck up exactly the same as we do care for the neck down I would say we are making leaps and bounds of improvements in the last 2 years alone. A large percentage of employer sponsored health care plans didn't allow any form of counseling or mental health care coverage before 2013.... So tell me, how hard have we tried?

"Specifically, only 18% of the United States received adequate mental health services, the fewest percentage of people in any high-income country to receive adequate services." http://voices.yahoo.com/us-lacks-adequate-mental-health-services-543064.html

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1361004/

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/777719

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/12/17/why-cant-america-care-for-mentally-ill/

Medicine prescribed 5 years ago for several major mental health issues is the same medicine they have been using since the 1960's, and earlier. These specific types of crimes, mass murder, may be on the rise? but violent crime in general is way down. I would ask, are they really on the rise? Or is the media just paying more attention to them? I can show you cases of mass murder in this country dating back hundreds of years.

The problem is you can't force people to take medications or seek counseling. Many of them just can't afford it. A person with Bi-Polar could easily pay over 1k a month in prescriptions and sessions with a psychologist and psychiatrist. Also, the counselors aren't all that empowered to do anything when they think something major is wrong.

Why? Our society doesn't know what to do with these people.

The U.S.A. is WAY behind the curve compared to other countries in the world in this area specifically. Let's just keep putting them in prison! And then complain about the costs associated with doing so!

 

was a time when there was effort made to incarcerate the mentally unstable (insane) before they could do something harmful to society.

the politically correct movement changed that. today...one can not hit their kids, so locking up the insane sure as hell is not happening. heck, they don't even call them insane asylums or mental institutions anymore.

the world is full of evil. the politically correct secular crowd refuses to acknowledge it. to them...everything is a "gray area". everyone is a victim.

 

Locking up the insane would entail determining who is untreatably mentally ill and who has treatable mental illness which would require more effort aimed towards and focused on mental health issues , no ?

I think we've moved beyond the days of all mental health issues require incarceration , would you not agree ?

 

Damned that secular crowd.

 

Yes, but... You're not asking me.

 

No jail time for this screw ball, we don't need to waste tax money on this. He needs to be roped up behind a truck and dragged along the asphalt until his skin peels off. Feed him his own entrails, I don't know.

 

Do you really even know what happened? Or are you just buying up what you've been told you should believe? Is it possible that you are? And if so - if you're buying the line of bullshit you're being sold - which in fact is the only part of the story your supposed to distracted by - then aren't you in fact a potential murder for reacting so strongly to something you don't know anything about? You sound quite criminally insane by many standards. . .And just think, you're 17, hmmmm can't go anywhere but down from here. You better watch out for what you wish for - you just might get it - in spades.

I just want the truth. I think he did it - but I want the real story. And as usual we're not getting it. There's more holes in this story than a piece of swiss cheese in the vatican. So calm down boys and girls and quit reacting to something out of fear and think errr. . . wait, don't think. . .everythings ok. . .consume. . .watch tv. . .eat this horse. . .err hamburger. . .cough cough --- weeeezeee. . . drag. . . smoke. . . weeezee. . . consume. . . . . . . . .

 

First off who are you? You want the truth, it doesnt get any better than catching the guy with the gun in hand. Real story? He shot up a movie theatre and made life hell for the rest of us. Gun bans are all the rage partly cause of this guy. Everything is OK in your world, not alot of us.

 

Put down the pipe.

 

That's what I was thinking, not only that but wasn't his house filled with more guns and the plans of the aurora shooting?

 

Dude planned to kill several people watching batman, did so, and will now get off the hook with the classic route "insanity."
So in my opinion, he deserves what he dealt.

But hell what do I know, I am just 17

 

The gun ban bullshit thats going on shouldn't surprise anyone. Feinstein and others are just using tragedies like this shooting to further their own agenda. Its sickening to think that they saw this and Sandy hook as an opportunity...