Man holding human head stabs worker at Oregon grocery store

I sometimes think the old state mental institutions served a needed role in the community. Some folks simply shouldn't be on the streets.

Yes. Just saw an episode of Bones last night with a drone carrying a human head in ghastly vivid detail, the scenes designed to shock and gross everyone out. Some people can't tell the difference between imagination and reality, I guess. Pumping them full of meds may not always be a good alternative to hospitalization, agreed.

Similar thing happened in Canada on a Greyhound bus. The killer was schizophrenic. We don't put people like this in institutions any more, fearing that doing so might infringe on their human rights.

We don't put people like this in institutions any more, fearing that doing so might infringe on their human rights.

During the Reagan era in the US, Thatcher's in the UK. Human rights were less of a concern; instead the right were looking for ways to reduce federal spending so they could increase spending on military and other programs that further enriched corporations.

There's probably no way of knowing, but I have to think the costs associated with police, emergency, judicial and other public services to deal with people with serious mental and emotional health problems are probably greater than the costs of better treatment and even hospitalization.