SwimExpert
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- Nov 26, 2013
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- #81
Yes, we have learned a lot since the electro shock and lobotomy days. It was the horror stories that helped shut them down but we have the know how to do a much better job these days. But we've been conditioned to think it's cruel to lock up the insane. I think it's cruel not to.The "loony bins" as you call them were a very poor way to handle a complex, and at the time poorly understood, problem. The modern institutions are better, though there is still alot of work to do. You are correct that nothing about this case speaks to the death penalty, generally speaking. This man should be placed in a psychiatric facility where he will not be a danger to society.
The "cruel" aspect that remains relevant today is that the old institutions were sometimes simple dumping grounds. People at times were institutionalized as "ill" when they did not conform to what their families or society wanted them to be. Those who were ill were left to rot and whither, and be forgotten by a society that didn't want to recognize them. In alot of ways, the old institutions were a byproduct of society at the time, and then scapegoats when society didn't like the consequences of its own inner darkness.
I agree that people who are severely mentally handicap, such that they cannot adequately function in society, are better off in a facility where they can receive the treatment they need. We've progressed a long way in having effective and appropriate ways to institutionalize people.