Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-07-15
The PIeu Of insanity

read with qualification your July 5
editorial, entitled 'sThe Plea Of IN
sanity" and note in the same edition
the accounts of two revolving crimes,
one against a child in Texas and the
other against young wife In Cleve-
land, both of which show evidence Of
the Acknowledgment type of crime CONF
nitted by the so-called mentally un-
sound" In fact, the perpetrator of the
Texas crime has already stated the
stock phraseology of "a blackout" in
which he didn't remember what he did.
It seems that many of these cases fol-
low the same pattern: The commission
of minor or major crimes followed by
the solemn judicial Judgment OF "lack
Of responsibility due to unsound mind"
''psychotic compulsion," emotional in
stability" ad nauSeam, which results
in the individual being committed to
mental institution for short period,
after which he is released as cured,
free to start the cycle of his activities
again.
AS understand it, the reasons given
for punishment by society for criminal
acts on the part of an individual are:
Cd Protection of society against the
acts of the criminal individual and
81 the deterrent by example which is
presumed to prevent others from COM
hitting the same crimes. ct has been
expressly stated again and again that
the object of such punishment does
not involve any vengeance by society
against the individually
When punishment of criminals is
considered at all logically in this light,
it would seem that the only question
that can be asked us regards the indi-
vidual who has committed the crime is
will this man commit this crime again?
Now here there seems to be no logical
reason whatsoever for presenting de-
Tense of insanity for, while it might
be conceivable that an entirely sane
man might for various reasons commit
a crime which would never be repeated,
this cannot be said Of the insane; in
fact, the more definitely insane the
individual might be, the more likely he
would be to commit the same crime as
often as he was granted an opportunity
Since it is impossible for judge and
jury to weigh such imponderables in
given case it would seem that society
would best be protected by simply
abolishing any defense on the grounds
of insanity Cor any of the psychotic
conditions which the layman is unable
to comprehend, but which has been
set up by psychiatrists) and allowing
the present legal punishments to ap-
ply equally in all cases. That is, for
example, murderer should be hanged
whether he is insane, emotionally un-
stable. the victim Of compulSion, or
perfectly sane. TN fact, to the average
decent citizen, no murderer is really
sane.
In this day and age, when millions
of perfectly innocent men, women and
children have been killed in war, it
seems to me that to be mawkiShly SEN
timental over some completely useless
pervert who has committed q crime
against some innocent child or woman
is to display a lack of perspective that
is really astonishing. While ] have
no intention of belittling the accom-
plishments of the psychiatric profess
sion, cannot help believing that the
possibility of really making one of
these psychotic criminals into de-
cent, law-ahiding citizen is so remote
as not to in any way compensate for
the potential danger to decent people
of turning these creatures loose on
society. think that the alienists might
more usefully be devoted to potential
criminals at the stage where there is
some reasonable hope of reform. also
believe that severe punishment of men
tally subnormal individuals might
very well act as a deterrent to the COM
mission Of similar crimes by similar
individuals. One does not inquire into
the motives of rattlesnake; one
shoots him. I, as an average citizen.
have never felt any sympathy for
Medea.
Instead of augmenting the path to
freedom from the consequences of his
act for the so-called mentally abnor-
NAL criminal. it is high time that the
safety of decent normal people be pro-
tected by whatever means will prove
to be effective. Is the law to become
so wiShy-washy as to protect these
criminals to the point where it en-
dangers the lives of law-abiding citi-
1euS! Theodore B. Edwards.