Berkeley's Lethal Liberalism
Berkeley over the weekend experienced a tragic murder of a 67 year old chemical engineer by a 23 year old youth. Twenty-three year old Daniel DeWitt, apparently mentally unstable and not on antipsychotic medication, was in the front yard of Peter Cukor's home when he and his wife came home last Saturday. Cukor asked DeWitt to leave, went inside and called the police, then went across the street to a fire station to seek help. When Cukor returned, DeWitt beat and killed him with a potted plant.
I happen to live nearby, but don't know the victim or the suspect. But beyond the tragedy of the death, I cannot help but think that the murder is unfortunately the result of the left-wing that runs riot here in the Bay Area. First, police did not respond to the first phone call because their resources were devoted to handling an Occupy Oakland protest that attempted to take over — of all things — International House, a Berkeley campus building that houses foreign students and visitors. Deb Saunders at the SF Chronicle has blogged that the more that Occupy Oakland and similar movements consume the limited policing budgets of cities hit by recession, the less resources are available to fight crime (Oakland, a medium sized city, had 103 murders last year, but has had to spend $3 million a year on the occupy protests). This terrible murder focuses the mind on the trade-off between protecting the community from crime and coddling anarchist protesters (as the mayor of Oakland has been) in a way that abstract figures do not.
Second, the fact that DeWitt was on the street to begin with might be the result of the de-institutionalization agenda favored by the Left. In hindsight, it seems clear that DeWitt should never have been on the streets, especially since he was refusing to take his medication. DeWitt's mother blamed "the system" for not providing enough mental health resources for her son, who apparently was diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic. Some argue that Republicans — particularly President Reagan — cut funding for these institutions. But no matter what resources are available, because of "progressive" court challenges, it is extremely difficult to keep someone in a mental institution against their will, with the result that more unfortunates like DeWitt are released from hospitals and potentially dangerous to innocents around them.
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Jun '10
Re: Berkeley's Lethal Liberalism
When I got mugged (in a large liberal city that I won't name, because it's not relevant) I was essentially told that I had to understand that life is hard for these young men, and I was lucky, because I just had a few scrapes and bruises that would heal right up. "Next time, when you go out walking, only carry what you absolutely need."
Nov '11
Re: Berkeley's Lethal Liberalism
Although I don't think this is the main point of the post or John's argument, this attitude always gets me riled up. Invariably in a situation like this there's an attempt to turn a perpetrator into the real victim, because we didn't throw enough money at the issue.
A question for John: if DeWitt had been prescribed medication that would have made him rational and he deliberately stopped taking those drugs knowing he could harm someone is he culpable for the act even if he wasn't in his right mind at the time of the act?
Apr '11
Re: Berkeley's Lethal Liberalism
Austin Murrey
Although I don't think this is the main point of the post or John's argument, this attitude always gets me riled up. Invariably in a situation like this there's an attempt to turn a perpetrator into therealvictim, because we didn't throw enough money at the issue.
A question for John: if DeWitt had been prescribed medication that would have made him rational and he deliberately stopped taking those drugs knowing he could harm someone is he culpable for the act even if he wasn't in his right mind at the time of the act? · 1 minute ago
I obviously don't speak for Mr. Yoo, but I think it is deplorable that these people are not under medical care where they can receive the therapeutic benefits of modern psychoactive drugs .
It's a sick joke that we have the know-how to treat these illnesses but lack the ability to provide that treatment in a medical institution.
Dec '10
Re: Berkeley's Lethal Liberalism
But not too little: you don't want to enrage your mugger because you don't have enough to be worth robbing, and thus provoke him to kill you.
Dec '10
Re: Berkeley's Lethal Liberalism
My eldest daughter is dating a boy who lives in that neighborhood. It's not a pleasant thought that she could have been there and that the killer could have picked a different house to target.
Mar '11
Re: Berkeley's Lethal Liberalism
Thank you, One Flew Over the Cookoo
Aug '10
Re: Berkeley's Lethal Liberalism
Let us not be coy and lay the blame for this in the lap of responsibility . The Occupy is part of the Obama campaign. Pure and simple, funded by unions and taxpayers extorted funds, this has to be one of our history's tawdrier political episodes.Berkeley isn't to blame , it's just a poor dumb old California town.
Apr '11
Re: Berkeley's Lethal Liberalism
This is a liberal meme I've heard for a long time, that Reagan cut funding to homeless shelters and mental institutions, leaving hundreds of thousands of people to fend for themselves out on the street. Yet here in San Francisco there are progressive ACLU-type organizations that frame the issue as one of individual liberty-- they have the right to be on the street if they choose (as John Yoo phrased it, you can't institutionalize someone against their will).
So if Reagan was the catalyst for this institutional exodus, I can't help but wonder if it was done with support and approval (and maybe even some cajoling) from the left. The issue I'm sure is more complicated than the left portrays it (what's new?). Maybe it was yet another one of those efforts at bipartisanship that backfired. I'd love to know if John Yoo or Peter Robinson have insights or data on this.
Edited on February 22, 2012 at 1:48amJul '11
Re: Berkeley's Lethal Liberalism
When I got mugged at gunpoint by two men at the age of 21 I started carrying a gun even though I'm a big guy. I've had two attempts since then and here I am, wallet and all.
My 17 yr old was in Berkley this weekend for his debate team. He could not get over all the freaks and dopeheads. What a disgusting town that is from the top down.
Mar '11
Re: Berkeley's Lethal Liberalism
I don't know which came first, the budget cuts or the "emancipation" of people who couldn't care for themselves, but I did have second-hand experience with the results.
An elderly relative, who had no kids and whose husband predeceased her by decades, was in this condition. There was no one available who could properly care for her, and over time she became progressively worse. The family eventually got her to accept residence in a retirement home that could look after her, but there for a while it appeared that she would either end up hurting herself or others before anything could be done.
I don't blame the mother for blaming "the system," though it would be a little more accurate to point out that there really isn't any system.
Dec '10
Re: Berkeley's Lethal Liberalism
Keith Doherty: This is a liberal meme I've heard for a long time, that Reagan cut funding to homeless shelters and mental institutions, leaving hundreds of thousands of people to fend for themselves out on the street. Yet here in San Francisco there are progressive ACLU-type organizations that frame the issue as one of individual liberty-- they havethe right to be on the street if they choose (as John Yoo phrased it, you can't institutionalize someone against their will).
So if Reagan was the catalyst for this institutional exodus, I can't help but wonder if it was done with support and approval (and maybe even some cajoling) from the left. The issue I'm sure is more complicated than the left portrays it (what's new?). Maybe it was yet another one of those efforts at bipartisanship that backfired. I'd love to know if John Yoo or Peter Robinson have insights or data on this. · 22 minutes ago
Edited 13 minutes ago
Maybe these folks have some relevant information.
Jun '10
Re: Berkeley's Lethal Liberalism
Three thoughts:
1. If the "system" was supposed to have helped DeWitt and didn't then we have a bureaucratic failure (yes, it happens all the time).
2. Even if the "system" failed, members of his family, in particular his parents, had a responsibility to seek help for him--I can't believe help was completely unavailable.
3. The single most important thing a police force must do is respond immediately to potentially dangerous situations. That includes stopping mid-ticket to respond or eliminating the "diversity" branch of the department in order to get more cops on the street. (A diversity-sensitive cop who is five minutes late is a useless cop).
Edited on February 22, 2012 at 2:19amDec '10
Re: Berkeley's Lethal Liberalism
tabula rasa: Three thoughts:
1. If the "system" was supposed to have helped DeWitt and didn't then we have a bureaucratic failure (yes, it happens all the time).
2. Even if the "system" failed, members of his family, in particular his parents, had a responsibility to seek help for him--I can't believe help was completely unavailable.
3. The single most important thing a police force must do is respond immediately to potentially dangerous situations. That includes stopping mid-ticket to respond or eliminating the "diversity" branch of the department in order to get more cops on the street. · 1 minute ago
The bizzareness of Berkeley may have been a contributing factor. Unstable people are common enough on Berkeley's streets that the police may have assumed that this was just another mainly harmless street person.
I think this is the kind of thing I was thinking of in response to Delingpole's question, "Why not?" When people like this are roaming the streets, the rest of us are less free, and certainly in Berkeley there are a number of people who are like this because of long-term substance abuse.
Oct '11
Re: Berkeley's Lethal Liberalism
tabula rasa:
2. Even if the "system" failed, members of his family, in particular his parents, had a responsibility to seek help for him--I can't believe help was completely unavailable. · 2 minutes ago
Edited 0 minutes ago
That's unfair to the family. We don't know to what extent they were involved. There probably was help available, the family probably got the help for him, and he probably walked away from the help. My brother-in-law is mentally ill and my wife's family has been trying to get him help for forty years. He's been in institutions all over the country. Each member of his family has spent countless hours working to get him help. But he was always able to walk out of those institutions because he had the right to do so. Thank God he's not violent, though he's been arrested countless times for various things from speeding in a car to fighting with other mental patients. Finally, two years ago, he was put under state-guardianship by court order. Now his guardian monitors him closely and makes sure that he takes his medications. He's doing much better.
May '11
Re: Berkeley's Lethal Liberalism
Wow, the occupy people are still there?
People should not be living in California. Leave. I did.
Feb '12
Re: Berkeley's Lethal Liberalism
Liberals crack me up. I still hear that crap about Reagan defunding mental health devices. Uh, when was Reagan governor of California?It's frustrating, these stories, because few mentally I'll persons do things like this and it's very difficult to tell who will. How do you stop such crimes?
Feb '12
Re: Berkeley's Lethal Liberalism
Damn auto correct.....
Jan '11
Re: Berkeley's Lethal Liberalism
"...a 23 year old youth."
Not a 23 year old male? The 25 year old who mugged me was an urban youth. His mother allowed he was troubled.
In the first paragraph you wrote "...DeWitt beat and killed him..."
The very next sentence, next paragraph, you wrote "suspect." I suppose in the eyes of the law DeWitt is not yet the perpetrator
[Rude comment redacted. Please view the Code of Conduct here.]
Edited on February 22, 2012 at 6:50amJan '12
Re: Berkeley's Lethal Liberalism
Professor Yoo, thou art a better man than I. If a mob of bolshevik maniacs had blockaded my driveway, they'd have been generously peppered with buckshot.
I know, I know, you had to show up in front of a number of them in class the next day. You are still on the faculty, so your skills at detouring around vicious confrontation must be fine.
Jan '12
Re: Berkeley's Lethal Liberalism
I remember that. Reagan may have signed the bill partly because of libertarian and partly because of budgetary considerations, but the do-gooders of the day were screaming, don't incarcerate the innocent!
What I don't remember clearly but what I am willing to bet is that it was Jesse Unruh and the Democrat majorities in the state legislature that passed the bill onto his desk.
One night about a decade ago, the eldest son of a former coworker was staying with her elderly father. One of these sociopaths broke into the house and killed both of them. He has never served jail time.
Edited on February 22, 2012 at 3:00am