Court Opinion

ID: 9548782
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 18:08:41.773531+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:19:25.251639
License: Public Domain

DURHAM, Justice
(concurring):
I join Justice Stewart’s opinion; he has articulated a compelling rationale for the result. I write separately, however, because I believe that the “solution” proposed on remand will prove difficult, if not impossible, to implement, there being few, if any, facilities suitable to meet Mr. Murphy’s needs. Justice Howe’s concurring opinion details the urgency and complexity of those needs, and I agree with it also. This state has failed dramatically in its moral obligation to provide adequate support systems for adults disabled by mental retardation, as well as by mental illness, who enter the criminal justice system. I wish to underscore the point made by Justice Stewart in referring to the 1965 report of the Governor’s Advisory Committee on Mental Retardation. Our laws in this area are useless and archaic, and our policies do not prevent injustice. It is to be hoped that the legislature will respond to this need.