Is a mental illness an excuse to get away with breaking the law?

24 Comments

Example: A kid with schizophrenia murders 3 people, 2 of which are family members.

Yes 30
NO 61
Depends 57
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Comments ( 24 )
  • dom180
    12 years ago | pl

    Yes, it is a good reason, but that doesn't mean that there should not be consequences. I would give the kid mandatory time in a secure mental institution. Not a jail sentence. He needs to be treated with sympathy, yet also kept away from the public to keep society safe. Keep him away from the public until which time as we can be sure he (or she, really) is safe. If he never will be safe, then we leave him there for his whole life.

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    • DolphinAngel
      12 years ago

      They are kept in the psychatry (their whole life) then, aren't they!

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      • [Old Memory]
        12 years ago

        That's what I was thinking, if they kill several people they'll just get life in an asylum instead of in prison. So it's all good.

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      • dom180
        12 years ago

        Not necessarily, but in most cases that would probably happen.

        Some illnesses, however extreme, can be controlled through medication, rehabilitation etc. This would have to be done very carefully, with frequent checks.

        Because this would be very complicated, yes, if would often be a life-long thing.

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  • wigsplitz
    12 years ago

    No. Obviously you still get imprisoned for the crime, just in a psychiatric ward instead of a prison. Which from what I've read isn't much better, maybe even worse. The only REAL benefit from it is that (in the US anyway) you cannot be executed if you are found to be mentally ill. But it's not like you can easily fool anyone, you have to go through intensive testing. Look up cases where a defendant has claimed mental illness. It doesn't work unless it's severe, and don't think that you'll be free if you do pull it off. You are branded as mentally ill and will likely be institutionalized the rest of your life. Your civil rights are stripped. You can't just walk away from it and have a normal life afterwards. It's worse than being branded a felon.

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    • SnailyMeow
      12 years ago

      You just said exactly how I feel about the topic, and thanks to you I don't have to type all that lol

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    • falilv1
      12 years ago

      from were i come from you can murder someone, and if you get of as mentilly ill you get significantly less time on a sentence and when you get out, why would you live in the same town when you have done something bad enough to be an outcast of society anyway you would just move

      what about all the criminals who tried and failed to get off as mentilly ill did they just do it for fun.

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      • wigsplitz
        12 years ago

        I don't know where you come from, so why don't you back up what you said with either the sentencing guidelines that apply to incompetent murderers or some cases that back up what you say.

        In the US, if you face the death penalty, you are ALWAYS evaluated for competency. That doesn't mean you will get out if incompetent at that point, it just means you won't be executed. At this point, you've already gone through the trial and been convicted, you are being evaluated for sentencing, not ability to stand trial.

        Before getting to that stage though (before trial and conviction), you can be evaluated for competency to stand trial. The VAST majority do not attempt this, mentally ill or not. Something like 90% of all cases end in a guilty plea, the defendant waives right to trial. Why would someone attempt to be determined mentally ill? To malinger (delay proceedings)-which is a crime itself (obstruction of justice), and possibly avoid prison by getting sent to a mental facility. In other cases, the person truly IS mentally ill, and isn't usually the one who is trying to be classified as such (if you're that seriously mentally ill and incompetent, you wouldn't know it, would you?). If it's a serious crime, they're not just going to walk away free, especially being that mentally ill.

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  • belbel000
    12 years ago

    mental illness can be used as an excuse depending on its severity.

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  • karmasAbich
    12 years ago

    If the kid was neglected and not getting the right care, then it would only make sense the kid was going to go ape shit one way or another..

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  • Eudoxia
    12 years ago

    Most schizophrenics will never hurt or kill someone, but the few I've heard of had absolutely no connection with reality, suffered auditory and visual hallucinations, and exhibited terror prior to attacking.

    It entirely depends on how the illness impairs the person.

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  • Storme-chan
    12 years ago

    It would depend on a few things. For instance, if it really was someone with shizophrenia, they couldn't be charged with murder if they were having delusions that caused them to think that everyone in the world was out to kill them and if they didn't kill them first they would die.

    But consciously murdering someone for the heck of it and then saying, "Oh, it wasn't my fault, I have _______." isn't a good enough excuse.

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  • dardydardizzle
    12 years ago

    Yes. My mother is bipolar-schizophrenic as well as pretty immature at the same time. She does things like tagging penises all over public places and shoplifts and attacks police officers. She has been to court over 30 times and is always let free because she is "unstable"

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  • falilv1
    12 years ago

    most of the time yes, in cases such as murder, you should be locked up longer for being mentally ill, because your more likely to do it again.

    There was a man in my town who murdered his own mother, he pleaded mentally ill and spent only three years behind bars. he had a repretation for treating her like shit, and his reason for murding her was very petty in terms of taking a life especially the life of who brought you into the world.

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    • falilv1
      12 years ago

      also he had no real mentil illness, it's easy to play the role when being tested, it's a matter of if you can properly percieve right from wrong

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      • falilv1
        12 years ago

        its funny i come across a recent conviction, a man was given 30 years with no past crimes on his record, this was for manslaughter, 30 yrs is more than murder. anyway he arrived home to find that his wife had strangled his 4 yr old son, and at the time he thought his 7 yr old daughter was dead, as he found her hanging from her bed. he beat his wife to death, and she rightly deserved death.He was also driven to kill himself, taking a bottle of sleeping pills, he was waken by his daughter asking for a cup of tea.

        firstly locking a man up who has never commited a crime for 30yrs with harded criminals isn't gonna 'rehabilitate' him, it gonna turn him into one of them
        something the prison system continuely fails persons and their families on time and again

        secondly what i've just described is more inhumane than the original crime. Now this mans daughter hates him, being to young to understand what her mother did, so he has now lost everything he was living for, so does putting him in jail for thiry years sound fair, escpecially compared to the man in my other post. There is right and wrong and compassion inbetween.

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  • [Old Memory]
    12 years ago

    It's a reason to understand why they done it, not a reason to let them get away with it.

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  • FreeWilly69
    12 years ago

    Depends on the sitch

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  • enzyme1
    12 years ago

    of course, isnt an aspect of a crime the intent to commit it. so if you are insane you arent sound of mind and make rational decisions. but i guess it is up to a jury to decided if that is the case or not.

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  • A_SENSIBLE_GUY
    12 years ago

    There's a lot of excuses out there. Celebrities get the most excuses, lil wayne could probably murder someone and go to jail for 5 years at the most! but anyways, a mental person will usually be sent to a mental facility but even so they could kill someone and then blame it on there illness. Sometimes they really have problems but it is possible they could be lying.

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  • [Old Memory]
    12 years ago

    They should be treated in a secure place, away from society.

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  • Gena45
    12 years ago

    Technically if someone with Schizophrenia commits murder they can get off on an insanity plea. So yeah, it is a good(?) way to get away with breaking the law.

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  • zchristian
    12 years ago

    What about getting less time in jail for killing someone you know now that sounds like a mad man made that rule...

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  • Flaze
    12 years ago

    I personally feel that mental illness doesn't cause someone to commit acts of crime, maybe the mental illness contributes, but the person themselves are the ones who give into temptation and commit the crime.

    I am happy to say that I'm mentally disabled and I've never committed a crime in my entire life, nor have I ever had intention to do so.

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