Are We Becoming An Uncivil Society?
By Victoria Toensing
Time.com
We are not an uncivilized society as evidenced by multiple acts of heroism during the shooting. We have become a non-judgmental society as evidenced by multiple signs of mental derangement that went unaddressed by the people and institutions that encountered Jared Lee Loughner.
Cloaked with the aura of enlightenment in the 1960s,
lawyers successfully brought suit after suit to
release the mentally ill from institutions and to
raise the barrier for future admissions. In the
main, those released and those who should have been
admitted became the homeless. Some who should have
been institutionalized became dangerous. Worse, the
national psyche became "live and let live."
Unlike most states, Arizona has a process whereby
any person can petition for a psychiatric evaluation
based on a person's appearance of mental illness.
"Anyone concerned about his behavior could have
called at any time," said Neal Cash, president of
the Community Partnership of Southern Arizona. But
no one did. Not Pima Community College, which was
well aware of Loughner's bizarre behavior because it
resulted in his expulsion but not in a referral to
the legal system. Not his parents, who could not
possibly have missed his backyard altar to a skull
or his drugs. Not any of his classmates, one so
concerned she sat by the door to escape in case he
arrived packing a gun.
Rather than blaming society or political rhetoric
for Loughner, state legislatures need to formulate a
fair process for evaluating and admitting the
mentally ill who are dangerous. And society needs to
adopt the mantra of those fighting terrorism: "If
you see something, say something."
— Victoria Toensing is a
partner in the Washington law firm diGenova and
Toensing, and a board member of the Foundation for
Defense of Democracies.