Feels Good to scapegoat someone
The headline of the Journal this morning gave me some inspiration to write again after a week or so of writer’s block.
Kendra’s Law Gets Council OK.
There was one vote against it, and I have to make the statement that this woman in constantly a inspiration, an epitome of bravery, strength, and conscience in politics.
Kendra’s Law was something I had only heard minimal things about last year when a Friend of mine, and State Rep. decided to carry the bill in the state legislature. It is a horrible bill, and I’m used to keeping friends who do things like this. Its what politics is all about. She has been good to me, and is right on 99.9% of the issues, this time she thinks differently than I but it won’t impact our friendship. I trust and respect her more for being honest with me when I approached her about it.
That said, this is a horrible law. It began in NY some years ago when a girl named Kendra was pushed in front of a subway by a man who was mentally Ill. The law aims at helping people, the public, keep dangerously mentally ill people off the streets and out of situations where they can do harm to others. This sounds like a great idea, and it definitely has good intentions. But the dangers outweigh the goods.
I actively opposed the bill in the state legislative session last year, and have been mostly off the scene on the city level, with the exception of speaking with a friend of mine on the City Council.
The bill allows family members, law enforcement, and “others” to report a mentally ill person as dangerous to people around them. Once they so do, there will be a court hearing, where a judge, (with recommendation from a doctor hopefully) will make the ultimate decision as to whether or not the person needs to be force medicated.
Then we begin the process of force medicating, and potentially incarcerating these mentally ill people.
The law came about in ABQ after John Hyde, a schizophrenic man, shot and killed 5 people in one day. The story behind that story is still mostly rumors. But apparently the man was kicked off his medications, after being denied state funded help to pay for the prescriptions. He had attempted repeatedly to gain access to his meds, and was begging for help, knowing that he was going to be a danger to himself and others if off of them for a prolonged period of time. This points us to the real problem, and that is not that we need a mechanism for forcing medications on mentally ill people, but rather that we need better funding for prescriptions drugs. We need to address the real problems of our society not stop gap measures.
This is a piece of feel-good legislation. This is a bill that elected officials, with the exception of the brave Debbie O’Malley, were afraid to stand up against. This bill will not ensure that dangerous people are taken care of. Nor will it help us attack the serious problems of mental illness in this society, or city. But it will serve as a mechanism to allow more people to be made into criminals.
Congratulations Albuquerque, you’ve made mental illness a crime! I hope you “feel good” about yourself!
There is no doubt Mayor Chavez will sign the bill. And Albuquerque, don’t you feel safer already?
A side note, the original Kendra’s Law in New York is currently being debated on again, with a majority of the state calling for the repeal of the law because it is not effective, and unduly harsh toward the Mentally Ill.
I thought at least the Democrats on the City Council would have remembered the campaign slogans fro 2004, “No more fear driven policies, hope is on the way.”
I guess I was wrong. So often that is the case… sadly…
Kendra’s Law Gets Council OK.
There was one vote against it, and I have to make the statement that this woman in constantly a inspiration, an epitome of bravery, strength, and conscience in politics.
Kendra’s Law was something I had only heard minimal things about last year when a Friend of mine, and State Rep. decided to carry the bill in the state legislature. It is a horrible bill, and I’m used to keeping friends who do things like this. Its what politics is all about. She has been good to me, and is right on 99.9% of the issues, this time she thinks differently than I but it won’t impact our friendship. I trust and respect her more for being honest with me when I approached her about it.
That said, this is a horrible law. It began in NY some years ago when a girl named Kendra was pushed in front of a subway by a man who was mentally Ill. The law aims at helping people, the public, keep dangerously mentally ill people off the streets and out of situations where they can do harm to others. This sounds like a great idea, and it definitely has good intentions. But the dangers outweigh the goods.
I actively opposed the bill in the state legislative session last year, and have been mostly off the scene on the city level, with the exception of speaking with a friend of mine on the City Council.
The bill allows family members, law enforcement, and “others” to report a mentally ill person as dangerous to people around them. Once they so do, there will be a court hearing, where a judge, (with recommendation from a doctor hopefully) will make the ultimate decision as to whether or not the person needs to be force medicated.
Then we begin the process of force medicating, and potentially incarcerating these mentally ill people.
The law came about in ABQ after John Hyde, a schizophrenic man, shot and killed 5 people in one day. The story behind that story is still mostly rumors. But apparently the man was kicked off his medications, after being denied state funded help to pay for the prescriptions. He had attempted repeatedly to gain access to his meds, and was begging for help, knowing that he was going to be a danger to himself and others if off of them for a prolonged period of time. This points us to the real problem, and that is not that we need a mechanism for forcing medications on mentally ill people, but rather that we need better funding for prescriptions drugs. We need to address the real problems of our society not stop gap measures.
This is a piece of feel-good legislation. This is a bill that elected officials, with the exception of the brave Debbie O’Malley, were afraid to stand up against. This bill will not ensure that dangerous people are taken care of. Nor will it help us attack the serious problems of mental illness in this society, or city. But it will serve as a mechanism to allow more people to be made into criminals.
Congratulations Albuquerque, you’ve made mental illness a crime! I hope you “feel good” about yourself!
There is no doubt Mayor Chavez will sign the bill. And Albuquerque, don’t you feel safer already?
A side note, the original Kendra’s Law in New York is currently being debated on again, with a majority of the state calling for the repeal of the law because it is not effective, and unduly harsh toward the Mentally Ill.
I thought at least the Democrats on the City Council would have remembered the campaign slogans fro 2004, “No more fear driven policies, hope is on the way.”
I guess I was wrong. So often that is the case… sadly…
posted by Marshall at 11:30 AM
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