This post is not about Sarah Palin, but she provides a useful jumping-off point. In a video response to the Arizona shootings, she called the alleged killer, Jared Loughner, an “evil man” and said that he is “deranged” — a word that is a synonym for “insane.” Palin is not the first person to use these words to describe Jared Loughner and I doubt she will be the last. The question I have is whether someone can be both evil and insane. I don’t think that’s possible. And if I’m right that people can’t be both evil and insane, the question becomes: How should the law punish insane people?
I come at this with my own personal baggage. My mother was diagnosed with bi-polar disorder/manic depression long after she first exhibited its effects around our family home. Even after receiving her diagnosis, she had difficulty finding the right drugs to control it. My mom often acted irrational when she was off her medicine. Her inability to think clearly often damaged her more than it damaged other people, but there were many times when her irrationality manifested itself in hurtful behavior toward her children and others. Some of us who experienced her behavior would describe it as “evil.”
After watching my mother struggle with mental illness for her entire adult life, I know how terrifying it can be. I also have gotten a sense of how little people who are lucky enough not to have a loved one suffer from it understand about mental disease. My brother has observed how little mental illness is discussed publicly relative to its presence and negative effects on our society. This country is home to many charity walks (and runs) to raise awareness of breast cancer, AIDS, and all sorts of dangerous diseases. These charitable endeavors are undeniably worthwhile. But one wonders what it will take for us to take note of the mental health crisis that is spreading right before our eyes.
If Jared Loughner is a clear-minded, cold-blooded murderer, we can dispose of his case and his crime quite easily. But if he is like hundreds of thousands of Americans who are anything but clear-minded, then the resolution of this matter might be more complicated.
My mother’s illness was treatable. When taking the proper medication, she was not deemed evil by anyone. I was lucky there. I understand that not every deranged person can be treated and rehabilitated to the point that they should be free to live alongside us in civil society. But the truly insane or deranged cannot be evil and should not be punished as such. The fact that we still conflate the two is a sign of how far our society still has to go to appreciate the true nature of mental illness.
Kevin Ring is a freelance writer in Kensington, Md. He previously served on Capitol Hill as a counsel to then-Senator John Ashcroft; executive director of the Republican Study Committee; and legislative director to former Congressman John Doolittle.