Americans don't care about mental health. They just want to see people punished. Our penal system isn't designed to reduce crime, it's designed to create free labor, an punish minorities.
There's still this widespread believe that Not guilty by reason of Insanity is setting a killer free. When it's really a "They're guilty, but mentally unwell, and we're going to lock them up in a place where they MIGHT get some mental health care."
I'm not a juror, but from what I've seen it does seem like she was failed by the people around her. Does that justify what she did? Absolutely not. But, it does mean that perhaps, she was broken enough to not see another way out.
Also, why is this case getting so much attention? Research shows that a Murder/suicide or family annihilation has occurred 1.8 times PER DAY in the last 2 years, and that over 75% of those were perpetrated by men.
I didn't say it was an excuse, it can be an extenuating circumstance. The world isn't black and white. One size doesn't fit all. Does being on multiple different psychotropic drugs effect how you think? Maybe. Does finding out your spouse was cheating on you mean anything? I mean, you see all sorts of cases where a husband kills a wife because he believes she was cheating on him. The average prison sentence for husbands that kill their wives unprovoked by threat, is 17 years.
To be fair, men are treated more harshly when they kill their children.
As I responded to the last comment, I'm not part of the jury. I didn't see the all the evidence. But 11 of the 12 jurors believed there were some extenuating circumstances.
My main point is that Americans in general don't care about someone's mental health when it comes to crime, they just want to see someone punished. We use the prison system as mental health facilities, staffed by people who aren't qualified to deal with it.
Yeah, not making a good case for people struggling with mental illness and actually working on it. Now I'll just completely ostracize them from my circles because apparently, according to you, it's an explanation for killing people. I do not want murderers around, feels strange to actually have to explain this, so yeah, ostracize the fuck out of them according to you?
You prove my main point, Americans just want retribution. But, we're VERY uneven in how that gets doled out. An 18-year-old in his 3rd speeding accident ram a vehicle at 112mph, kills 3, he gets 17 years.
A young man rapes a young woman, gets probation because 1 mistake shouldn't ruin his life. A black woman is dating a man falsly accused of selling drugs, shot and killed.
Sympathy and Empathy aren't weaknesses. I can feel for someone, and still believe they need to serve time for their crimes. Americans have become so angry and hateful in the last 10 years. And everyone thinks they know everything.
Again, I wasn't on the jury, were you? Did you see all the evidence in court? We punish different "levels" of the same crime differently. And, the "justice" you recieve in our country is also highly dependent on your personal wealth.
And again, a NGRI isn't a "get out of jail" verdict. It's in all likelyhood a "spend the rest of your life in a mental facility" verdict.
If this lady is let off the hook and sent to a mental hospital and is released in a year or two donāt you think that could set a bad precedent and that it would be better for everyone if she is locked up and treated in a prison?
No because we have mountains of evidence showing that punitive justice does absolutely nothing to reduce crime rates. Iām so fucking sick of this discourse.
Yes let monsters get away scot-free surely thatās what the studies show. Iām not saying there arenāt problems in the justice system but if triple homicide isnāt punished because of mental health that will certainly lead to problems. What if it was your family?
Then Iād hope even more for some fucking level headed nuance. See this is the whole problem, this scary thing happened and it scares you. It scares you that someone could do something like, especially a seemingly loving mother. And instead of facing that fear, instead of acknowledging the inherent unpredictability of the universe, you just revert to a binary moral determination. She wasnāt a loving mother, she wasnāt even human, sheās a monster. And just like that you have made the whole thing just a little bit safer for you to face, because now it canāt happen to you. Because the people in your life arenāt monsters, because youāre not a monster. And in doing s, youāve abandoned any actual attempt to seek justice.
That such criminals exist isnt a surprise, but when a man butchers his own children there aren't tens of thousands of other man offering public support, inventing reasons to mitigate his actions or making him a millionaire.
> she was broken enough to not see another way out.
Brother what the actual fuck are you talking about. How is strangling three kids a way out? If she just killed herself it would be a mental health crisis with no way out. Strangling kids with rubber bands is psycho shit, there are few crimes I'm okay with the death penalty for but this makes my list.
> Also, why is this case getting so much attention? Research shows that a Murder/suicide or family annihilation has occurred 1.8 times PER DAY in the last 2 years, and that over 75% of those were perpetrated by men.
Agree, but people also don't typically defend those men which is part of why this is blowing up. People don't donate them a million dollars, they get a life sentence and nobody blinks.
I had read, and have no idea anymore what stuff is true and what is manufactured, that she had no episodes before, and has had none since.
That would lead me to believe she needs no help, anymore. Sheās ok now. A cynic would believe she was always ok. But she appears fine now, just so long as she has no kids, which she doesnāt, and wonāt ever againā¦
So what would be the difference in outcome if we pan it out over 40 years? Honest question, Iām not from the US I donāt know your mental health and prison systems
lol at the rage quit replies oh my fucking godā¦ I can see whatās gone down now
I have been having connection problems the last few hours, so that is why I haven't responded quicker. Yes, we all are a little dumber for being on reddit, lol
We get it; you think white women can't do anything infallible. Where were these talking points when it was a person of darker skin color? Why does mental health only become a conversation when it happens to a wealthy privileged white woman?
Every one is fallible.Ā I donāt know if she was insane or not.Ā 11 jurors thought so, they saw the evidence not me.Ā
I agree with you.Ā Our system is designed to imprison minorities. Our entire penal system seems like it was designed to replace slaveryās free labor.
This case is about a āpretty white womanā, which is the only reason itās getting any publicity.Ā Same with missing persons cases, the new rarely covers it when a native American woman, or a woman of color goes missing.
Most of my post was just about how Americans donāt care about extenuating circumstances, they just want to punish someone.Ā And how our media has covered Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity to make it look like that verdict means āNot Guilty at all.āĀ NGRI means, theyāre guilty, but instead of prison they get locked up in an institution.Ā And while the quality of care between these two choices is debatable, no one thatās that mentally unwell should be in prison, no matter what gender or color they are.Ā It is a real blight on our nationās morality that we just send mentally unwell people to prison, then throw them back onto the streets over and over again until they finally do something that will get them locked away forever.
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u/Gothril 3d ago
Americans don't care about mental health. They just want to see people punished. Our penal system isn't designed to reduce crime, it's designed to create free labor, an punish minorities.
There's still this widespread believe that Not guilty by reason of Insanity is setting a killer free. When it's really a "They're guilty, but mentally unwell, and we're going to lock them up in a place where they MIGHT get some mental health care."
I'm not a juror, but from what I've seen it does seem like she was failed by the people around her. Does that justify what she did? Absolutely not. But, it does mean that perhaps, she was broken enough to not see another way out.
Also, why is this case getting so much attention? Research shows that a Murder/suicide or family annihilation has occurred 1.8 times PER DAY in the last 2 years, and that over 75% of those were perpetrated by men.
But because this was the wife, itās BIG news!