Academic

CLAYTON CRAMER: Mental Illness And Mass Murder. ?How many more tragedies like the Tucson shootings?

By Glenn Reynolds

CLAYTON CRAMER: Mental Illness And Mass Murder. “How many more tragedies like the Tucson shootings will we have to watch before we start facing the harsh truth? . . .In 1950, a person who was behaving oddly stood a good chance of being hospitalized. It might be for observation for a few days or a few weeks. If the doctors decided that this person was mentally ill, they would be committed, perhaps for a few months, perhaps longer. Hospital space was always at a premium, so generally, if someone was kept, there was a reason for it. The notion that large numbers of sane people were kept for no reason just has not survived my research efforts.”

And here are some related thoughts from the InstaWife.

Full post as published by Instapundit.com on January 11, 2011 (boomark / email).