[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by kierkegaarden

There's nothing ambiguous about the issue: can future crimes be stemmed by the non-punitive confinement of pathological offenders? It's an ethical concern.

right, but so is "preemptive war" (an ethical concern). the thing is, this confinement is not "non-punitive" just because it's in a mental ward instead of a jail. we're talking about the involuntary confinement of a person who is married and eager to get out and rebuild his life. can you punish future crimes outside of a p k dick novel? it's a civil rights issue.

i just though to bring it up because the role psychiatry plays here, as prosecutor, judge and jury, and about the weak evidence the examiner presents to conclude "mental abnormality"-- to me, it's more significant than george will's take on the role of psychiatry in society-- while will talks about potential repercussions to the law, here we're seeing a concrete example of the legal implications of psychiatric diagnosis (and not a very thorough one to boot).