Case Study- Jared Lee Loughtner

Stewart Warren Psychology Final Project Due 1 .

24. 14 Task- Section One (Questions A-G are answered) There is no official percentage rate recorded of crimes committed in the U. S done so by people that are diagnosed to be mentally Ill. However In the MacArthur Violence Risk Assessment Study I found that 31 % of people who had both a substance abuse disorder and a psychiatric disorder committed at least one act of violence in a year, compared with the 18% of people who committed a crime with a psychiatric disorder alone.

Most crimes committed by patients with a psychiatric disorder alone, are done so by those with Bipolar disorder or Schizophrenia.

The two most common symptom overlap of the diseases Is depression and substance abuse. Patients of both diseases experience the pressures of conforming to societal norms, with the expectations of staying medicated, as well as manic depressive periods, in which they are lethargic, fatigued, insomniac, have thoughts of suicide, and other negative thoughts like homicide.

In most cases If a proven mentally Ill patient was discovered to have violent indecencies, and discovered to be a harm to himself and or others, the government, ii. Doctors, family, and hospitals could by right have them placed on medication and or admitted into a medical center for psychiatric treatment. In the case of Jarred Lee Laughter he was born in Tucson, Arizona on September 10, 1988. He shot and killed 6 bystanders on January 8, 2011, including the 9-year-old Christina-Taylor Green and wounded 14 people Including the attempted murder of the U.

S Representative Gabrielle Gifford, who was shot In the head. On January / 2011, ten malign Deterred ten snooping, at a. . He let a message on a friend’s vocalism after purchasing a mm Clock Pistol. The vocalism said, “Hey man, it’s Jarred.

Me and you had good times. Peace out. Later. ” In a Namespace post the morning of the shooting at 4:12 am, he wrote, “Goodbye friends. Please don’t be mad at me.

The literacy rate is below 5%. I haven’t talked to one person who is literate. I want to make it out alive.

The longest war in the history of the United States. Goodbye. I’m saddened with the current currency and Job employment.

I had a bully at school. Thank you. P. S. –plead the fifth! Both of these records prove that this was a premeditated incident, not haphazard episode.

So what was the significant factor that caused this mess? The dislike for Gabrielle Gifford that Laughter had showed could have come from his hate for the government. He believed that the government used the control of language and (continued… Grammar to brainwash people, he also believed in the notion that the government was creating an “infinite currency” without the backing of gold and silver, as well as NASA faking spaceflights. Yet it also could have stemmed from his belief that women would not hold positions of power, and that it is better left of to men.

Before he was arrested he again, as he did previously on his Namespace page, pleaded the fifth (insanity plea) making it impossible for him to receive the death penalty.

May 25, 2011, a Judge ruled Laughter was incompetent to stand trial, based on two medical evaluations both diagnosing him with paranoid schizophrenia. The court system had the ability to forcibly treat and medicate him because he was deemed incompetent to stand trial without it. Court proceedings were suspended ND Laughter, received psychiatric treatment where he was forcibly medicated. On August 7, 2012 the Judge ruled him competent to stand trial where he pleaded guilty to 19 charges of murder and attempted murder.

And November 8, 2012 he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Lass- settles IOW (Questions 1-3 answered) I think one of the biggest strengths in the mental health system as a general U. S system, is the fact that we can forcibly admit people into medical facilities to treat them. There are a lot of people that generally don’t think they need to be medicated cause they think that there hallucinations are normal, or they think that they have their problems under control, which more often than not leads to alcohol and substance abuse.

Leaving them impaired and almost always with depressive thoughts.

Nevertheless I still think that the court system is some what flawed in the matter of pleading the fifth. I think that if you are proven insane, and committed a crime while inebriated, or otherwise impaired. That you can still plead the fifth but can still be given the death penalty. 2. According to the friends of Laughter he had a longstanding dislike for Gabrielle Gifford, he believed that women shouldn’t hold positions of power. Along with that he both distrust and disliked the government.

Therefore his thoughts of homicidal intent towards her, could have been partial hallucinations on his part. And I think because she was campaigning in public at a supermarket, that it gave him his opportunity to express his views. 3. 1 don’t think this has a bearing in the situation, because where there is a will there is a way, if he was intent on killing Ms. Gifford then he would have found a way to obtain a gun even if it was through illegal means. The lack of background check was en Tall AT ten state AT Roland, never ten Intent to KIWI was already Drawing Insane him.

I think any person with any mental instability should never be eligible to own any firearm of any sort. Call this discrimination if you like, but in both events of the past like this case and events of the present like the Kansas school shooting, most public shootings are committed be those with not necessarily sever but present mental instability, and in order to make this world a safer place for those in it I think that we should take this into consideration as well as more extensive background checks.