Leaving work about lunchtime to head home for graduation. It will surely be about as emotional as it can be, but I can't wait. Congratulations 2007 grads!

and let us all know how it goes.  Thanks.

I was in my 'hometown' of Blacksburg last weekend to visit, but wasn't able to get down this weekend.  I'll be writing a diary of my experience and thoughts on it soon. 

Congratulations to all Virginia Tech graduates.  We are America's School now.  The Hokie Nation is something far greater than any alumni association.  Not only will we prevail, but we have shown the world our quality.  After this, everyone is going to want to be a Hokie!

Matusleo
Ut Prosim

.. and is going to blacksburg today to be with his friends who are graduating. will be an emotional day as my son is "stiffled" by the tragedy.
my best to all the vt family.
and media, just stay away. you make it worse.

The very first thing the state can do, outside of the information sharing required in cases of involuntary commitment whether outpatient or inpatient, is amend the form for the standard order filled in by special justices in such cases.  I did not address this particular point in my last diary, but it's clear from the Order for Involuntary Admission that there was no obligation put on anyone to follow up on Cho.  The CSB may have this responsibility in the Code, but absent it being spelled out in an order there is no trigger mechanism for the CSB's involvement.  In other words, the CSB won't go out looking for cases, no one is going to notify the CSB unless told to do so, and once the case is filed with the court, without a review date of some sort the case just ends up in file cabinet limbo.  Reforming the forms used in such cases and inserting mandatory language for CSB involvement and follow through would help immensely.  Added to this should be a legislative enactment requiring court review at a designated period, perhaps 180 days from the date of the Order.  Of course, once you start getting into things like mandatory reviews then you stumble over the problem of what to do with the special justices.  They aren't technically part of the court system; rather, they are private attorneys appointed specifically for emergency hearings.  It would be unfair, cumbersome, and difficult to impose upon them a requirement that they hold follow up hearings, so the statute should probably place this requirement with the local general district or, in the case of juveniles, JDR judges.  The legislation could be drawn in part from the types of statutes applicable to foster care cases in the JDR system.  Departments of Social Services have numerous deadlines and reporting requirements imposed upon them in such cases, which makes it harder for cases to simply disappear within the system.  The CSBs should also have deadlines and reporting requirements.  Of course, this will all cost money, but that ain't my bailiwick.  Someone else can talk about the costs. 

The National Alliance for Mental Illness (NAMI) gave Virginia  a "D" for the quality of mental health service for the seriously mentally ill.  And the word is that Virginia is 48th in the Nation for funding to mental health services.

And while Governor Warner dedicated $450 million of the state surplus for mental health services...the Republican legislature said this money should be made available to pay for transportation. 

How mentally ill do you have to be to get thrown out of the University?  You have to qualify to get in, why shouldn't you have to qualify to stay in?

who are mentally ill - bipolar, depressed, anxious, whatever - are not a threat to anyone.  Getting thrown out of college because you're depressed?  I don't think so.  Getting thrown out of college because you're a demonstrable threat to yourself or others, for whatever reason?  Now that's a different story.

may be counterproductive because won't that just be more fodder to tip them over the edge to suicide or violence? If they are so troubled -- especially if they are deemed mentally ill -- that they can no longer live in dorms, attend classes, go out in public, etc., then they need to be involuntarily committed to a treatment center because simply sending them home or kicking them out of school may drive them more crazy.

  Unless they're involuntarily committed, the mental health professionals will not have a handle on what's going on in their head, and will not be able to prescribe appropriate treatment.  They can be released after 30 to 60 days if they're no longer dangerous, but the mental health system can't really make that determination in one or two days.
  The current system is being driven by lack of money and lack of responsibility.  The organizational principle of Virginia's mental health system is not providing treatment to those most in need, but passing the hot potato on to another level of government or to a private health entity.
  I have often heard that canard that mentally ill people are no more violent than the rest of the population.  Well, maybe, maybe not.  Some may be less violent, or some may be institutionalized and therefore under more control, or the figures may be skewed by wishful thinking.
  The point is, that's no reason to ignore and fail to treat those who ARE violent.  These explosions are entirely predictable -- the same people are shuffled through the system over and over, and they are denied treatment at the slightest excuse.
  Paranoid, delusional, untreated schizophrenics are prone to violence, as their family members and all who know them can tell you.  Some of the screeners do not even go out and SEE PEOPLE IN PERSON who are alleged to be a danger to themselves and others, in violation of the law.  There is a lot of empty rhetoric about freedom and independence, but that rhetoric overlooks the right of mentally ill people to safe effective reliable consistent treatment.  It also overlooks the right of the rest of us to public safety.
  Mentally ill people have killed children in this state, have killed police officers in this state, have now killed college students in this state.  It is way past time to recognize the problem, and fix our broken mental health system.

with this comment:  There is a lot of empty rhetoric about freedom and independence, but that rhetoric overlooks the right of mentally ill people to safe effective reliable consistent treatment.  It also overlooks the right of the rest of us to public safety.

I cannot say how many times, in talking with a prosecutor or police officer on a case, the issue comes up of how to make sure my obviously mentally ill client continues to receive treatment.  Many of my clients may not be violent, but some of them are extremely aggressive because of their delusions and paranoid feelings.  Moreover, their crimes do not have to be violent to pose a threat to public safety.  In some cases they commit crimes while trying to self-medicate (marijuana possession, shoplifting OTC medications, prescription fraud, etc.); they are sometimes suffering from a sense of invincibility and grandiosity and will walk into a store and steal stuff right off the rack or pick up another person's wallet; they may also have delusions or obsessions which result in them committing criminal acts.  I once represented a man who became convinced (long before the movie "Signs") that aliens were secreting special alien water under boat and car tarps and he would prowl the streets stealing tarps so the alien plot would be discovered.

So the problem in the criminal justice system is what to do about them.  There are judges who will put them on probation and order them to maintain treatment.  This can be a difficult obligation to obey, not only because they frequently cannot remember what they are supposed to do, but because the resources are not there to treat them. When they fail they end up with another criminal conviction and incarcerated.  Did I mention that conviction of a felony means loss of some veterans' benefits? 

I've had prosecutors tell me that they want my client to remain locked up because at least they'll get some treatment in the jail.  I've encountered family members who slip medications into their loved ones' food in an effort to stabilize them because no one can make them take meds.  I've known of others who falsely charged their sick member with threatening to kill them so they can get the person involuntarily committed. 

Some police officers show unusual sensitivity to and understanding of these issues and some are idiots who can become very abusive toward mentally ill people who are "not cooperating" with a police stop. 

As a purportedly civilized nation we need to do something to help these vulnerable individuals and our society.