Wow, this is disturbing.

So the problem is whether the criminal should be treated as someone with a mental illness or as an evil person?

I think it sort of comes down to if we want to think about it from a more objective or subjective point of view.

 

What if they got a tumour in their brain and it changed their personality so they did it. Are they evil then... even after they have been treated (for example)?

 

I have known people with schizo affective disorders [along with being bipolar] with voices talking to them and even conversing with those voices.
1 in particular I know [a very intimate friend] mentioned her brain being wired differently and why would God do that to them.
Not easy to explain that, especially when they believe in God.
This vid is an example of that [this is not the person I am referring to]:

My brain is wired differently...? - YouTube

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schizoaffective_disorder

Schizoaffective disorder is a psychiatric diagnosis that describes a mental disorder characterized by recurring abnormal mood and psychotic components. The mood component may be elevated or depressed (bipolar or depressive subtype), or simultaneously elevated and depressed (mixed episode), and these abnormal mood components alternate with, or occur together with, distortions in perception. For a diagnosis of schizoaffective disorder to be valid, according to current DSM criteria (but not ICD-10 criteria), there must be a period of at least two weeks of psychosis without mood disorder, and these symptoms cannot be due to medication(s), substance use or another medical condition.[1][2]

 

Then, put them in a mental institution for the rest of their lives. But, I'm sorry - if the voices told you to kill once they might tell you to do it again. It's not a chance we can afford to take.

 

That is what her mother recommend.
Btw, this dear friend of mine is 40 yrs old and non-violent, but does some have some other issues which I will not elaborate on here [as does her mother].

 

A 2010 article no longer applicable. Really?

This is why the Right in the House are called obstructionists. Obama hate can't even see straight.



2011 Judge Robert Chatigny Drops Off Obama's List Of Nominees For 2nd Circuit Court Of Appeals

 

It seems that not enough people take mental illness seriously.

 

That's actually a fair point.

An example is the sniper in Texas a few decades ago, anyways the autopsy found that he had a tumor in his brain, around the hypothalamus.
Charles Whitman - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The hypothalamus regulates a lot of base functions within the brain, and it's entirely possible the growth was literally causing the shooter to feel an uncontrollable rage.

While wikipedia does not state, that the hypothalamus regulates anger necessarily, it is entirely possible that the tumor was the cause for this individual to snap.

Hypothalamus - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

So it isn't so easy to say someone is evil and should be punished.

 

Treating a mentally ill person as a mentally ill person has nothing to do with denying the evil of whatever action they may have taken nor does it somehow deny the memory of any of their victims. It's simply a logical way to go about things.

 

At the very least the guy was irresponsible, if you're starting to uncontrolled anger for no apparent reason, I think that's a good indicator that something is wrong...

Yes there are evil people in the world, was that particular individual evil, I have no idea.

It could also simply have been the fact that he knew he was going to die and decided to go on a rampage...

 

Of course. I don't think anyone is denying that.

I don't claim to know what happened, but if something was wrong with him then he may not have been thinking straight to be responsible.