seventeenseconds
SeventeenSeconds
- Joined
- Feb 14, 2009
- Messages
- 358
- Reaction score
- 55
Hello all,
I've been lurking for awhile, and haven't posted in more than two years, but I wanted to post something about this case. This comes from the University of Washington's school of social work:
<begin snip from article>
Fact: The vast majority of people with mental illness are not violent.
Here is what researchers say about the link between mental illness and violence:
- "Although studies suggest a link between mental illnesses and violence, the contribution of people with mental illnesses to overall rates of violence is small, and further, the magnitude of the relationship is greatly exaggerated in the minds of the general population (Institute of Medicine, 2006)."
- " the vast majority of people who are violent do not suffer from mental illnesses (American Psychiatric Association, 1994)."
- "The absolute risk of violence among the mentally ill as a group is very small. . . only a small proportion of the violence in our society can be attributed to persons who are mentally ill (Mulvey, 1994)."
-"People with psychiatric disabilities are far more likely to be victims than perpetrators of violent crime (Appleby, et al., 2001). People with severe mental illnesses, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or psychosis, are 2 ½ times more likely to be attacked, raped or mugged than the general population (Hiday, et al.,1999)."
<end snip from article>
I don't dispute that something is wrong with JC; the average person does not go around destroying the lives of other people. However, I don't believe that JC has to have some mental illness (chemical dependency falls under the category of mental illness) to justify what he did to IL. Some people are just evil people, simply put.
I'm a recovering alcoholic, and I work in a hospital where I only have patients with mental health issues, addiction issues, or both. Time and time again, I see people who are sick, but not evil. The crimes that most of these people have committed are crimes of theft, DUI, etc. and are not typically violent in nature unless a threat is/was perceived.
If you would like more information about the non-connection between mental illness and violent crime, I encourage you to start with the UWash School of SW page where I got the above-mentioned information, which can be found at http://depts.washington.edu/mhreport/facts_violence.php
JMO, MOO, and nothing but respect for IL and her family.
Awesome post!! Thank you and good job on the recovery!! [emoji5][emoji106]