Quote:
Originally Posted by PilotMan
You can't start locking people up on a hunch that one day they might be a danger to society.
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More accurately, we're not
willing to start locking people up on such a hunch.
Some of you may recall that years ago I posted on here about a former YL kid who had committed suicide. At the time I posted, it seemed "too early" to talk negatively about him or say my real feelings on the subject. But the truth of the matter is that the kid was very obviously very mentally ill. (And yes, his parents tried numerous ways to get help but weren't willing to have him involuntarily committed.) To be perfectly honest, my first internal response when I heard the news was: "I'm surprised that he didn't take anyone else with him." I'm not an expert, but well before the suicide, there was absolutely no question in my mind that the right and moral thing to do, both for his own safety and for the good of society, was to lock that guy up somewhere safe until he could be cured.