TX - Loophole lets mentally ill Texas juveniles go free

[Missizzy]

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/a...le_lets_mentally_ill_texas_juveniles_go_free/

"A 16-year-old former juvenile detainee is accused of stabbing a high school teacher to death with a butcher knife. Another teen was convicted of killing a roofer during a 30-minute robbery spree.

Both were released by the Texas Youth Commission because the agency wasn't equipped to treat their mental illnesses and had to let them go under the law. The cases highlight what some juvenile justice experts say is a loophole in the way Texas treats underage offenders with severe psychiatric issues."



I'm reminded of the movie, "Paper Moon" and the character Addie Pray. When told that her con man father didn't have the $200 he weasled away from her, she squinted her eyes and spit out, "Then, git it!!"

That's my response to Texas. If you don't have psychiatric help for these kids, get it. We don't want them on the streets.

 

[txsvicki]

I think Texas is just waiting for mentally ill kids to commit a crime after age 18 so they can then diagnose mentall illness and throw them in prison. Data has shown that the majority of kids in Juvie do have mental illness that has not been diagnosed. It's hard to get any doctors to diagnose mental illness in kids and even harder to find an in treatment hospital where kids can stay and go to school while being treated because many were shut down a couple of years back. It's a shame because many could probably he helped to at least stay out of prison.