Security for Alice in a Mass Killer's Wonderland

Abstract

In countries where 'modernization' of laws governing institutionalization (e.g., Italy and U.S.) resulted in unintended consequences, this paper offers the legal context and background for re-evaluating when and why and under what constraints the mentally ill should be medicated if only for their own or the public's protection. Families are now bearing a steep burden that properly managed hospitals should ideally have provided; in the U.S. the public is burdened with mass killings on a regular basis. At a time when it is still declasee to talk about the unmentionable, talk is categorically essential and this article intends to get that conversation off on the right foot.

Keywords: Mental illness, Bipolar illness, Law of personal responsibility