Let's say he does have a missed learning disability, or isn't neurotypical, etc.
What do you believe should be changed or done, as a result of knowing that about him?
JMO “atypical” is a huge basket holding many different conditions united by certain similarities (and more so, diagnostic codes) but genetically, very different. We don’t know yet the full scope of their difference.
1) As the society, we have too many school shooters, too many serial/mass killers, too many people obsessed with death on camera, etc. I hope that early intervention will allow for better prevention, but what kind of intervention is necessary is yet unclear. So far, we don’t even know what would be the target group in this huge basket of “neurodivergence”. Some studies state that after 24, the risk of school shooting precipitously declines. We don’t know what in the brain development provides for it.
Obviously, one diagnosis ≠ similar behavior. Here is where we lag behind, we can generally diagnose but we are poorly aware of the specifics. We need more scientific data to explain, study and prevent. These kids whose names we know so well…they could provide a wealth of data. This is why I am “pro-study” and anti- “lock them up and throw away the key” approach. Such an approach would satisfy the public in the context of this Derek Rosa, but won’t stop another one.
2) to me, incarceration is not about punishment. I don’t think that for IG’s orphaned baby daughter, her brother’s incarceration will make life any easier. Incarceration is a utilitarian measure: the society needs to be protected from very dangerous criminals. We, the community, feel safer knowing that DR can’t attack us. So from this standpoint, I agree with the majority. There is no alternative to incarceration.
3) however, if DR has the diagnosis, the opposite is true, too. The diagnosis puts him in a vulnerable group. He may be is ill-equipped to survive behind bars. He may be victimized. If DR has a certain diagnosis, therapeutic measures during his stay might be warranted. IMHO. Example: when we ask for disability-accessible pffice buildings, we don’t perform background checks on every disabled client. The law and the morals expect that the society will accommodate the needs of those who are not fully self-sufficient. So if DR, who has committed matricide, is so mentally challenged that he doesn’t even process his own motherless future (and what can be worse than that?), then perhaps yes, something is seriously amiss in him, and we have to provide certain accommodations for his time in jail.
(Not to say that long-term incarceration doesn’t allow people to adjust to life in the society and that maybe one day he will realize what he did and his suicidal risk will be through the roof…this, too).
