Plenty of Warning

Seung Hui Cho gave plenty of warning of his murderous tendencies before he went into Virginia Polytechnic Institute and murdered 23 people. In one case, he was scheduled to make a presentation before a class and a dozen students stayed away because they were afraid of him. He took pictures of female students under their desks and wouldn't stop; eight professors formed a "group" to deal with his violent writings. "In December 2005, police hauled him off, a judge signed an involuntary commitment order deeming him dangerous, and sent him to a Radford, Va., psychiatric hospital for evaluation. A doctor declared him mentally ill but not an “imminent threat,” a Supreme Court term whose meaning the justices have never explained, and the judge released him." So why was he allowed to "roam freely" on a campus where almost everybody was afraid of him? Where he predictably finally killed 23 people? Somebody flubbed, and I'd say it was the judge, who went by "the strict meaning of the law" without using judgment. If ever a case needed judgment, this was it. But no! They left this known insane man free to kill, and kill he did. How many other people are displaying such tendencies and are still "found" to be "not a threat" to society until they kill? "At present no law requires a person judged dangerous to go to counseling. Moreover there is precious little evidence counseling can “help.” A defining symptom of the paranoid personality is that he does not think there is anything wrong with himself. He thinks the rest of the world is “sick,” and needs correcting, by gunfire or bomb if necessary. As his megalomania and paranoia grow, his rage builds against us all until he explodes in a bloody mess. In most mass murders red flags aplenty signaled disaster ahead. Usually people had complained to police, and many mass killers had police records." Why is it no one seems to pay attention until people die? Some people are unsalvageable. We need to have an effective way of dealing with them without violating the rights of those who have exhibited none of these violent tendencies. (LELDF)