Responses to Yates Retrial
Betsy Schwartz, Executive Director of the Mental Health Association of Greater Houston, responds to the retrial of Andrea Yates. In The Houston Chronicle, she argues for long over due changes to the language of the penal code.
By updating the criminal code to match our modern understanding of mental illness, the Legislature could improve the options for the Texas criminal justice system to deal justly and humanely with cases in which mental illness has governed the actions of an individual. By revising the provisions for processing a person deemed dangerous, appropriate provision can be made to ensure public safety without being reactionary.
It will never be easy to accept that in rare instances mental illness can result in extremes of criminal behavior. No procedures, regardless of how carefully followed, will eliminate the possibility of these extremes. But we can and should at least make sure our laws conform to the advances in our knowledge of mental illness if we want to remove the obstacles to justice in a case like that of Andrea Yates.
Posted by katherine at 05:03 PM
