Truemors
is reporting from
Member
NP Rank:
NP Rank:
Paranoid Schizophrenia: Please don't blame felony crimes on it
Share: 
by UNCENSORED NEWS | December 2, 2010 at 05:29 pm
677 views | 0 Recommendations | 3 comments
Videos
Elizabeth Smart's kidnapper is considered a 'Paranoid Schizophrenic.' Brian David Mitchell's Defense Psychiatrist, Richard DeMier has attributed Mitchell's kidnapping and rape crimes against a young teenage girl snatched out of bed one night in her parents home, as a prime reason for his actions. This illness does not contribute to the actions of a person. Personality, moral attitude, and self-esteem of any person will contribute to their actions or behavior. If a person is sick with schizophrenia they could still be a lawful citizen. The correlation between illness and criminal behavior is not consistently related. Some very sick and mentally ill people have never committed felonious crimes, and they probably never will. Others may decide to change their current behavior and/or moral outlook and participate in heinous, devastating and violent behavior; while some may see that as a conflict to their inner ego. With any consistent, and morally decent upbringing, if one is nurtured in an emotionally supportive and stable environment most mentally ill persons will stay law abiding even though, they have a terrible disease or mental illness. Please don't blame felony crimes on this illness called "Paranoid Schizophrenia." It's just not the reason for committing crimes. And it's actually a disadvantage for anyone who chooses to be unlawful. There is a much lesser chance to succeed when partaking in such a highly-skilled and calculating event like kidnapping, rape or murder. Therefore, "having the disease" does not cause the individual to commit a crime but "not having the disease" may actually contribute to committing a crime at a much higher and more significant level.
Mitchell believes he will lead a group of wives out of Babylon and will help establish Zion, DeMier told the court, according to The Salt Lake Tribune. Prosecutors say Mitchell kidnapped the then-14-year-old Smart at knifepoint from her bedroom in her family's home in Salt Lake City in June 2002. She was found nine months later in the company of Mitchell and his wife, Wanda Barzee, who earlier pleaded guilty in the case.
Advertisement
NowPublic on Facebook
What is NowPublic?
NowPublic lets people work together to cover news events around the world.
Crowd Power
These members have powered this story:
UNCENSORED NEWS
Nashville, Tennessee, United States
Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (3)
at 19:16 on December 2nd, 2010
Are paranoid schizophrenics more likely to commit crimes than the average person?
You bet.
Are all paranoid schizophrenics criminals or about to commit crimes?
No.
Should their illness be mentioned if it is deemed a factor in why they committed the crime?
I think so.
at 09:24 on December 3rd, 2010
Batvette -- you don't know what your talking about. Mentally ill people are no more a risk for committing crimes if they are mentally ill from birth than healthy humans. Mentioning it is fine - but don't use it as a defense.
at 18:41 on December 7th, 2010
Mentally ill people are no more a risk for committing crimes if they are mentally ill from birth than healthy humans.
So I guess all these people ended up in prison because police were picking on them or profiling the mentally ill?
62 surveys from 12 countries included 22 790 prisoners (mean age 29 years, 18 530 [81%] men, 2568 [26%] of 9776 were violent offenders). 3·7% of men (95% CI 3·3–4·1) had psychotic illnesses, 10% (9–11) major depression, and 65% (61–68) a personality disorder, including 47% (46–48) with antisocial personality disorder. 4·0% of women (3·2–5·1) had psychotic illnesses, 12% (11–14) major depression, and 42% (38–45) a personality disorder, including 21% (19–23) with antisocial personality disorder. Although there was substantial heterogeneity among studies (especially for antisocial personality disorder), only a small proportion was explained by differences in prevalence rates between detainees and sentenced inmates. Prisoners were several times more likely to have psychosis and major depression, and about ten times more likely to have antisocial personality disorder, than the general population.
http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0140673602077401
I'm not a psychology or criminology expert, nor do I have any reason to hold a position either way on this issue. However I'm a fairly competant internet debator, for what little that's worth, merely because I read very fast and can thus research my position on an issue quickly and efficiently.
I'm also honest enough that after a precursory review of available studies concerning your claim I was going to concede my error and your correct position, based mainly on conclusions I saw gleaned from studies in Sweden that mental health statisticians were quoting. However a deeper look revealed a disturbing trend of the Sweden study and those interpreting it of putting spin on the raw facts attempting to obscure the issue. (for instance here- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16877653 what does the conclusion of 1 in 20 prove? Nothing, and I believe that is intentional) The above study attempted to cut through the obfuscation and get to the real truth, and I think the truth reflects the facts cited.
So in summary, rather than making a curt reply of "show me" (a link) I did a little homework to ensure I wasn't just spouting BS. I can see that if you looked you wouldn't have any problem finding a link to support your claim, but you'd be insulting both of our collective intelligence if it were similarly layered in BS as the Swedish studies are.
I don't consider the mention of mental illness as a "defense" at all, as if we're supposed to excuse the crime. It is simply an explanation of cause or rationale, offering the perpetrator's state of mind when the crime is committed. At the bare minimum to say it should not be mentioned when the media reports a story, no matter what the context, is just plain silly.