The picture taken from Phillip Arnold Paul's MySpace page defies the blood thirsty image of an "insane killer" formed by recent media coverage of his escape. But the caption of the news article reporting his recapture evokes a range of emotions from blood-curdling fear to a welcomed rush of relief and return to normalcy. The article tells us an "insane killer" was recaptured by the police wandering near a highway days after escaping from a hospital field trip. But all killers are not insane. And all who are insane are not killers.
Violent crimes are indeed committed by individuals who are not schizophrenic and who are not legally insane. The media coverage of this story, however, consistently correlates serious mental illness with horrific violent crime and fear. What needs to be done so that the stigma of violence unfairly cast on mental illness can be effectively removed?
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment