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Hinckley to Go Free
Via the Washington Post:
Published in GeneralJohn W. Hinckley, Jr., will be released from a government psychiatric hospital more than 35 years after he attempted to assassinate president Ronald Reagan and shot three others outside the Washington Hilton on March 30, 1981, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.
Hinckley, 61, no longer poses a danger to himself or others and will be freed to live full-time with his mother in Williamsburg, Va., effective as soon as Aug. 5 subject to dozens of temporary treatment and monitoring conditions, U.S. District Judge Paul L Friedman of Washington wrote.
If Hinckley adheres to all restrictions, they could begin to be phased out after 12 to 18 months, removing him from court control for the first time since he was confined to St. Elizabeth’s hospital after the shooting, according to the order.
I’m not sure how to feel about this. Hinckley is the poster child for actual crazy. He tried to assassinate a President to get Jodie Foster’s attention when he couldn’t kill her.
Is this story a triumph of the mental health profession or a a triumph of our society’s self-delusion about the dangers of mental illness?
As long as he takes his meds….
Any comment yet from Jodie Foster?
I’m at a loss. If he’s so dangerous that the only way he can be prevented from engaging in violent ideation is to be on powerful anti-psychotics, why is he out of the psych ward?
As far as Foster goes? I doubt she’ll want to draw attention to herself about this.
The timing is creepy…..
Oh my – wasn’t even thinking anything like that, but you’re right …
Well Reagan is already dead so I doubt he is in much danger. What would the spy novel action thriller version of this story be?
Hinckly is a secret delta level sleeper assassin for a shadowy group of moguls who fear the future president. They arrange his release in order to put him back in the field for one last mission. Now it is up to special agent Sarah Kline to unravel the mystery behind the release and save the future president.
I think you shoot a President you should not be out, ever.
To be fair, his case caused laws to be changed nation wide to prevent this sort of thing from happening nearly as often.
My take on it is, that if you are told you have an issue and need to take meds and you do not, then morally, you are responsible for your actions while psychotic.
I love mental health rehabilitation stories. We should encourage him and his family.
This strikes me as a very dishonorable thing to do. I suppose it could be added that the matter is of no practical importance. &, too, that it is of no public importance. In short, that Americans couldn’t care less. That may be construed a sign of the indomitable character of American democracy.
James Brady spent the remainder of his life imprisoned in a largely non-functional body following Hinkley’s crime. It seems unfair to me that he should be released with a relatively normal life to live when he has intentionally caused such terrible damage to another innocent human being’s life. I taught in a juvenile detention facility for a bit more than a year. I learned a great deal about the criminal mind when there. I have ever since been quite skeptical about prison conversions and rehabilitation. The damage Hinkley’s craziness caused should be sufficient for him to spend the rest of his life in some form of incarceration.
Does he know that Hillary has been really mean to Jodie Foster and probably wishes her harm? It would be irresponsible to tell him, of course, so perhaps we should broadly use social media to remind everyone not to mention this.
And just how old is his mother? Our first line of defense will be a woman in her late 80’s? And when she passes, who will make sure he takes his meds?
What does it say about American values that a man who shot an American president will be released from the nuthouse, but Mark David Chapman – a man who shot a Beatle – will stay locked in the looney bin for life?
My late parents retired to the Kingsmill community in Williamsburg and became friends with the Hinckleys. They said they were lovely people who obviously were traumatized and themselves victimized by their son’s criminal act.
In cases such as this, judgmental fingers often point to the parents, but I believe they did all they could to address their son’s mental illness, and they could not have foreseen the terrible act he committed.
I no longer visit Kingsmill, but if I did, I wouldn’t be concerned about the safety of my family. It seems to me that there are so many restrictions and so much monitoring of John Hinckley that the risk of another tragedy is vanishingly small. It is an act of mercy and compassion to allow him to spend more time with his mother in the twilight of her life.
I hasten to add that I am a “law-and-order” guy who generally favors severe punishment for criminals of all kinds. Due to his mental illness, Hinckley was far less responsible for the injuries he caused than, for example, Matthew Broderick was when he killed two people in Northern Ireland in 1987. Broderick remains a beloved actor, and he didn’t serve time in prison for his negligent act.
Understandable. He did have the good sense to shoot Reagan within an inch of his heart. Wasn’t like he tried to kill.
There’s a screening of Taxi Driver in south Philly tonight.
But, he’ll remain on a “watch list” in perpetuity, right? Those are great at preventing crimes.
I’m so glad you wrote this. A few years later, they wrote quite a letter of apology and explanation to the public, and the letter was printed in the Reader’s Digest. It told of the bad advice they had gotten from their son’s psychiatrist, that he should live alone, which went against the parents’ better judgment.
It made a big impact on me because I was at the time taking care of a friend who was a paranoid schizophrenic, and I had gotten the exact opposite advice. The doctor had told me that isolation was the worst possible situation for schizophrenics. I’ve often thought Hinckley’s psychiatrist should have been on trial too.
I daresay that Reagan would have been in favor of Hinckley’s release.
I think there’s still time for him to speak at the Democrat’s convention. I promise you he would get a standing ovation.