There have been several high profile crimes recently across the country involving mental illness. Some prominent ones that have gained national attention have taken place in NYC within its public transit system as well as on the streets. Most recently, 14 year old Caleb Rios was brutally targeted and stabbed for no apparent reason by a repeat offender as he walked to school. Prior to this, yet another innocent victim, a 45 year old male was pushed onto the subway tracks in the middle of the day and critically injured.
The recent, however, not new issue of crime in NYC has sparked a flurry of what some consider harsh and inhumane treatment of all mentally ill individuals. Additionally, some have said that over policing is an issue that exacerbates the manner at hand as opposed to addressing it. On the other side, victims and their families are calling for more to be done and answers as to why they have lost loved ones to those deemed mentally ill but have committed heinous crimes against their loved ones.
The Debate
Stakeholders on both sides of the issue of how to address mental health and specifically, those who are a danger to themselves and others in today's society, naturally feel very strong in their beliefs. However, the key point missing is how to come to an agreement that something, as opposed to nothing, has to be done. The system is inherently broken when a violent person has committed repeated acts of assaults or violence and is never treated or the underlying root cause is never addressed. The issue is not just serving time or being locked up, but what is done during that time or what is required by law.
Yes, someone dealing with mental illness has rights, however, how does society balance the rights of the individual with the rights of other members of society? You often hear that you cannot force anyone to take medication and you cannot forcefully commit anyone unless they are a danger to themselves or others. The issue with this approach is often by the time they are a danger to themselves or others, their damage is already done.
No one has the right answer, so we end up with the broken system currently in place where the blame game takes over, and each branch of service whether the prison system, court system, healthcare system, elected officials, or police go around in circles dishing out criticism yet no one works together to cohesively solve the problem! A potential solution to this crisis that would protect both proponents on each side is to come together and factor in both sides of the argument.
The Winner
There have been systems in place that show promise such as those involving supportive housing environments. In these environments trained professionals are on hand to ensure those dealing with mental illness are medically treated, receive therapy, and are integrated back into society through job and educational training. The supports are available full time and are usually a long term commitment.
Those individuals who find themselves having fallen into a criminal pattern can be referred to this type of society as a condition of their release or parole once a prison sentence is served. In turn, prison systems must also be involved in providing the same level of support upfront to assist in the transition to supportive housing.
These are not difficult tasks to do, yet they seem so far out of reach for implementation. This is often due to bureaucracy of elected officials, and mismanagement of allocated funds. Communities have spent obscene amounts of money yet the issue still permeates almost every facet of lives with no one closer to a real solution to those battling the illness and those impacted by it.
There can be a system where everyone gets a win and whereby those who have a mental illness are treated with dignity. Individuals who have violent tendencies or history of harmful behavior are treated whether they agree to it or not. As a condition of release, treatments must be non negotiable. One cannot be integrated back into society without treatment. It's time for leaders to come together and stop just talking about the crisis but to actively commit to solving it through action and implementation.
Officials can open up hospital beds in humane facilities and hospitals, provide access to real treatment and monitors to ensure treatment compliance, engage community members to open up transitional job training programs, and other resources so that people have a chance to become productive members of society. We have a chance to right the wrongs of the past and not just make the same mistakes previously done with unfit institutions.
Using the excuse that someone has a mental illness can no longer be the reason that a perpetrator is not held accountable for their actions. It cannot be acceptable to have a revolving door of repeat violent offenders committing heinous crimes. The majority of individuals battling a mental health issue are not violent. However, it only takes one person who has an untreated disease to possibly cause irreparable harm to themselves or to others. This ultimately can paint an unfair picture of all battling some form of mental illness.
We owe those battling mental health better as we also owe the families that have been impacted by violence that society could have intervened with preventing. We all have the power to advocate for more treatment and support. Additionally we have a voice to insist on better usage of local and community funds to prevent future tragedies such as the one that took young Caleb Rios.
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