Laura's Law (outpatient commitment): The Answer to Preventing Mass Murder?

2017 has broken the record for the most mass murders in a single year -- not something to be proud of, my fellow Americans.After the latest mass shooting in Tehama, California, John Snook, the executive director of the Treatment Advocacy Center had an op ed piece in the The Sacramento Bee titled"Tehama Country had a tool to Get the Shooter Into Treatment.  It Just Didn't Use it and the System Failed."  The article notes thatLaura's Law, where a judge orders a patient to get outpatient treatment, exists in many California counties, but not the one where the shooter lived.  If only, if only.We know little about this shooter.  He was a violent man with a history of stabbing a woman (he was out on bail) and of shooting at neighbors.  His sister has stated that he had a long mental health and he was paranoid, and anti-government.  Prior to his shooting spree, he killed his wife and buried her in the floors.  The shooter worked as a marijuana farmer, we know nothing about his drug use or his treatment history.  He was known to the police, and clearly repeatedly dangerous, but the judicial system saw fit to let him remain out of jail on bail, which his mother in North Carolina posted, while he awaited trial. His guns were made by the shooter with pieces he had ordered and assembled, other guns were registered to someone else (?stolen).  He had a history of violence, and this crime does not sound to have been a surprise to the neighbors wh...
Source: Shrink Rap - Category: Psychiatry Authors: Source Type: blogs