Jared Lee Loughner appears to be a very troubled young man. An article titled " Suspect Fixated on Giffords " published in the Wall Street Journal (January 10, 2011 written by John R. Emshwiller, Devlin Barrett and Charles Forelle) digs into the history of Loughner. Several people that had contact with Loughner indicated he seemed to exhibit signs of mental instability. In fact he withdrew from Pima College when his erratic behavior in class caused school officials to request him to take an evaluation test.
One of Loughner’s friends indicated that the mental downfall of this young man may have started when he was a sophomore in high school. Pima County Arizona Sheriff Clarence Dupnik in part of a statement he made to the press following the shooting indicated that there was a time in the past when someone with the mental issues that the suspect had would not have been on the streets. The sheriff’s statement seemed to indicate that the ability to get individuals with mental issues in a treatment facility has changed.
Danger to Yourself and Others
Exactly how does someone with a mental disorder get placed into involuntary mental treatment that removes him from the public? In this case let’s deal with the rules in the state of Arizona since that is where this particular question was raised. The Arizona Center for Disability Law has the rules titled “Court-Ordered Mental Health Evaluation and Treatment in Arizona: Rights and Procedures" for involuntarily committing someone for mental treatment posted on their website.
"Any responsible person can file an application for a court-ordered evaluation. Usually the person filing is a social worker, family member, or friend. The application asks a mental health agency to evaluate you to determine whether you should be ordered to treatment. The person making the application must believe that due to a mental disorder you are: 1) a danger to self, 2) a danger to others, 3) gravely disabled, or 4) persistently and acutely disabled."
What is clear here is that the standard of a danger to self or others is a judgment call that may not be known until some like the outburst of violence occurred in Tucson when Jared Lee Loughner went on his rampage. The officials of Pima College offered the suspect a voluntary evaluation and he withdrew from school instead. The offer of a voluntary evaluation is a part of the involuntary evaluation process. The area that is problematic is how does one individual determine if someone else is dangerous due to mental issues if he has not exhibited that type of behavior.
Falling Through Giant Cracks
It seems that with all of the warning signs over the years with Loughner, he never overtly went in a violent direction. The problem is when Jared Lee Loughner did express himself as a danger to himself and others, it was in an incredible outburst no one ever expected.
Paraphrasing the words of the Pima County Sheriff, "These people now walk among us."
