Reports are circulating that psychiatrists have cleared for unsupervised home visits the moron who shot Reagan to impress Jody Foster.  We’ll set aside the fact that Hinckley tried to assassinate the president of the United States.  Let’s just say that his attempt was on the life of another human being, and in particular one who had done him no harm.  That sort of thing happens every day in America.

If you recall, just a few weeks back some fellow got a pistol and tried to kill an attorney involved in a case related to financial matters.  You must have seen the video of the lawyer jumping back and forth, trying to keep a tree between himself and the fellow firing the gun at him.

I don’t know how many people each year in America plead insanity, but have heard that it is a difficult tack to take.  One of the Washington, D.C. area snipers is using it at the moment.  His lawyers are saying that he was brainwashed by the black Moslem with whom he traveled about killing people.

I wonder how many people succeed at avoiding the death chamber in such manner, and further wonder how many are finally let out of asylums to wander around on their own.  One would be too many.  This opinion comes from the fact that I don’t think those who work with the human mind can be trusted with judgements of this kind.  They have a natural tendency to justify their profession, to validate it, by letting people go. .

This is why in the case of Hinckley, and in fact anyone who has committed a violent offense, I believe that psychiatrists should be allowed to free anybody from an asylum as long as they are legally responsible for the subsequent actions of those they turn loose.

I feel the same way about parole boards.  Let them free anybody they want, as long as every asset they have, and a very large bond to boot, is on the line should any of their reclamation projects turn out to be not quite as rehabilitated as these “experts” believe.

That should reduce recidivism in America.

(LL)
 

© 2003 Oregon Magazine