Crime is the Answer. Question: What Happens When Mental Illness Goes Untreated?

A mother throws her kids off of a pier in San Francisco. A mother in Texas drowns her children in a bath tub. At Virginia Tech, a young man massacres his fellow students. In each of these high profile cases, it was reasonably foreseeable that these crimes would occur because it was well known that these people were mentally ill.

Each day, the phone rings at my criminal defense law firm because someone has been arrested. Each day, my Assistant, Janice, prepares a report for me. This report includes information about the case, and unlike most criminal defense lawyers, includes information as to whether my prospective client needs to be examined for a hidden mental disease, defect or disorder. Guess what? We send about ninety percent of our clients for detailed diagnostic evaluations. In the past decade, two have come back normal. Two. So how do we solve the problem of crime in our community? The answer is blisteringly obvious: Mental health diagnosis and treatment.

Each day, people in this community are charged with crimes that are not high profile cases. These criminal defendants are not jumping off of a balcony flapping their arms claiming to be Jesus. Yet most have a hidden mental illness that negatively affects their behavior, mental illnesses that cause them to break the law.

The tough on crime, short on smarts crowd wants more incarceration – and it will cost you about fifty dollars per inmate, per day. This is more than a poor public policy. This is stupid. We can’t punish the Virginia Tech gunman, and even if we could, punishment is a poor substitute for the losing someone you love. I would suggest we solve the cause of most crime before someone at a local high school or college decides to enter the Biggest Shooting Massacre record books.

Here is a smart cost neutral way to start:

• Add a few questions to the pre-screening of inmates before their First Appearance when bond is addressed for the first time.
• Make “Obtain psychological/psychiatric evaluation and follow treatment as recommended” a standard bond condition in cases where it is appropriate. Diagnosis and treatment can also be made a condition of supervision in non-incarcerative sentencing cases.
• Eliminate the failure path of imposing cookie cutter talk therapy without adequate diagnosis in DUI, Domestic Violence, and drug cases. These programs skimp on the diagnostic portion and rely too much on talk therapy. Talk therapy has its place, but all the talk therapy in the world won’t heal a medical problem in someone’s brain any more than it will heal a broken arm. Diagnose accurately first, treat appropriately second.

Some people need to be locked up. Most don’t. Most people who are guilty of committing crimes need to be accurately diagnosed and appropriately treated. Diagnosis and treatment are the only way to break the cycle in our community without breaking the bank.

Unless you like setting your money on fire.

Attorney Stephen G. Cobb has been designated an expert in criminal trial law by the Florida Bar Association. He has practiced criminal law since 1990 and has four college degrees. His e-mail address is Stephen@cobblawfirm.com.

Cashing In On Crime: The Dark Ages, Part II

The cornerstone of our current system of justice can be summed up in three words: Crime and Punishment. The focus on crime consists of a focus on guilt or innocence. Everything boils down to the focus of whether someone did something illegal. The focus on punishment consists of what is the proper infliction of suffering for a crime that has been committed. Crime = Punishment.

As any rational person can see, our criminal justice system has utterly failed. Likewise, any rational person would never commit crime because of the punishment, right? This is where the whole system breaks down: The founders of our criminal justice system believed it was rational when it is not.

This is not a minor distinction. This is the key to understanding the stupidity of our criminal justice system. The way we look at our criminal justice system is just as important as what we believe we see. What if our way of thinking were to become Crime Solution instead of Crime and Punishment?

In order to see the problem different, we must know something different. Something that the politicians, the media and the pressure groups want to hide from you: They don’t want you to know why we have crime I n the first place. Knowledge empowers. Belief enslaves. The less you know and the more you think you believe, the easier it is to use tricks of psychology to get your time, your vote and your money.

You have been fed crap and kept in the dark.

A prime example of being fed crap is the current hysteria, sex offenders. MSNBC has a popular series, To Catch a Predator. Here’s their spin:

“An ongoing hidden camera investigation into computer sex predators -- grown men, trolling the Web for young teenagers. This time, police are making arrests.”

Does that pass the smell test? I mean, really, does that sound like MSNBC is interested in solving the problem of sex crimes or that MSNBC is more interested in creating a climate of fear, scandal and higher ratings?

To Catch a Predator preys on your fears, preys on your emotion, preys on your logic and ensures a serious problem is transformed into cheap entertainment. If the show were a factual presentation of methods, techniques and strategies for keeping your family safe, that would be one thing. But it isn’t. To Catch a Predator is all about the chase, the titillation, and the big bust.

Although Doc Block and To Catch a Predator are criminal justice cable crap standouts, MSNBC is not the only offender.

CNN’s Headline News inflicts Nancy Grace upon us nightly.

Crack Cocaine Sentencing Guidelines Retroactive

Defense attorneys and defendants across the United States will praise the U.S. Sentencing Commission USSC for allowing prisoners serving crack cocaine sentences to seek sentence reductions under the Sentencing Guidelines that went into effect on November 1. Retroactivity will affect 19,500 federal prisoners, almost 2,520 of whom could be eligible for early release in the first year. Federal courts will administer the application of the retroactive guideline, which is not automatic.

Counsel with Centrallaw.com and Protestzone.com are available to assist in this litigation. Call Toll Free 1-877-793-9290.

Sentencing Guidelines Retroactive

eDiscovery, Cybercrime, and Punishment

43 nations have signed on to the Convention on Cybercrime drafted by the Council of Europe with considerable input from the United States. The cost of combating cyber crime committed overseas may now be passed on to American businesses. Under the new treaty, participating countries are given sweeping access to information in United States for cybercrimes that may have been committed overseas.

For example, France has strict laws addressing the sale of Nazi memorabilia. Sale of those items on eBay may not necessarily violate United States laws. However, French authorities may seek information from buyers and sellers in the United States regarding sales that are otherwise legal in the U.S. . Article 12 of the treaty may make businesses liable for "lack of supervision or control" of employees to may have committed criminal offense(s) covered by the convention. Businesses need to watch employee activity that, while legal in the United States, may violate the laws of a participating signer of the treaty.

The record retention requirements in the treaty may require business to address the electronic discovery (eDiscovery) and computer forensics requirements that may be mandated by this new law. The costs of the Treaty will be borne by the private sector.

Sentencing Crack Guidelines - Federal Cases - United States Sentencing Commission

The Supreme Court issued decisions in three important cases: Kimbrough, Gall and Watson. In Kimbrough, the court held that a sentencing court had the authority to reject the 100 to 1 crack ratio in determining a reasonable sentence under the Booker analysis. The case gives great deference to the findings of the United States Sentencing Commission regarding the crack/powder disparity. The Sentencing Commission has recently suggested that a 20 to 1 ratio would be appropriate. As a result, it is important that, if you have any crack sentencing cases coming up in the near future, you may want to continue the sentencing so that you can you can address the crack/powder ratio issue in light of the Court's holding in Kimbrough.

Additionally, a reminder that the Sentencing Commission will be meeting today to discuss the retroactivity of the new crack amendment.

Cashing in on Crime: The Dark Ages of Criminal Law, Part I

Long ago, during the middle ages, something was against the law simply because the king said so. There were no legislatures, no courts as we understand them today, and no check or balance of any kind. Law created by the Divine Right of Kings – God’s chosen representatives who could make up any law at will. Thus, in France, when a peasant whistled appreciatively at a young French queen, the king had the man imprisoned for life on the spot. This arbitrary system of “justice” was not very popular, and the problem was apparent to the intellectuals of the day: The system of governance was unfair and irrational.

Over the centuries, intellectuals began to postulate a new system of criminal justice as part of a new system of government. They argued that law should be created by group of elected leaders who would represent will of “the people.” They believed a rational group of men could create a rational system of government. Rational law could then be created by a rational representative government. Rational punishment would only occur after a rational legal proceeding with rational checks and balances to ensure the fairness of true justice. Rational people would not want violate laws they had a stake in creating. Some people would break the law, they reasoned, but policing and punishment would round out a fair system

The exact form of government varied – a parliamentary system in Great Britain, a republic in America – but the underlying theories were essentially the same: A democratic republic would produce a rational, fair system of justice.

Over time, the debate has shifted. The founders of our nation are long dead. Our memory of governmental legal abuse is gone. Today, our beliefs are influenced by the media, not a bad memory from the past. Instead of worrying over whether the government can force us to house troops in our homes and horses in our barns, we are whipped into a frenzy over whether the system is fair to the victims.

When you hear that someone has burned crying puppy to death, strangled a pregnant mother, or sodomized a little boy, doesn’t it make you angry? Of course, it does. The media, the politicians and the pressure groups are counting on it – angry people act without thinking. And the politicians, pressure groups and the media don’t ever want you to think, they want you to do something. They want your vote, your time, and your money.

Especially your money.

Cashing in on Crime: Politicians, Pressure Groups and the Media

Each day, you pay about $46.10 for each person incarcerated in a jail or prison. Most of these inmates will be released - and re-arrested.

For those of us who work in the criminal justice system every day, it is reasonably foreseeable that they will violate the law in specific patterns. More importantly, it is actually possible to break the cycle of dysfunctional behavior in about 80 percent of all criminal cases. But this isn’t happening. Instead, your tax dollars are being set on fire by a government that just doesn’t get it. People are being hurt, property is destroyed, and the broken system of criminal justice continues to break the heart of many mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters each and every day.

Here is how the game is played.

Someone gets hurt by a criminal act. Next, the media sensationalizes the case for ratings. In response, the public is angered and afraid. A political pressure group is formed. A politician sees an opportunity, so yet another “get tough on crime” bill is introduced. Other politicians jump on the bandwagon, and a bad law is passed. The result? The problem of crime remains unsolved.

Actually solving the problem of crime is unthinkable to the players in the system. Let’s review the impact of actually solving the problem of crime on the players in the system.
The Media: True crime is one of the most popular news subjects for print, internet, television and radio media. If the problem of crime were to be solved, then the media would lose customers and that means losing money. Watch your local news tonight – it will probably start with the crime report.

The Pressure Groups: Can you imagine MADD’s paid political and administrative operatives disbanding because the problem of driving under the influence was solved? MADD brings in millions of dollars each year, and much of this money goes to pay very good salaries. About 19 cents for every dollar raised goes to for charitable works.

The Politicians: Entrepreneurs exist to make money. Politicians exist to get re-elected. When it is time to place an Intoxalock on a convicted driver’s vehicle, the profit potential for both is staggering. For the entrepreneurs (think ‘donors to you political campaign’), consider this passage:

“In the state of Wisconsin, service centers are getting between $75 and $150 for install, about $20/month to exchange the unit, and $50 to $100 for removal of the unit. That $20/month is just unplugging the thing, shipping it to the leasing company, and plugging in a new one that is supplied by the leasing company. Most states require the user to have this installed for more than one-year on their vehicle. Imagine the potential if you have many people in your area requiring these units!” Click here for the full article.

There is a recurring theme here. Money. Crime is a big business. Crime is a safe business, too. Economy booming? Crime is a great way to make money. Economy crashing? Crime is recession proof, and actually more profitable.

In my next article, we will answer a critical question: How did we end up with this poor performing legal system?

A Digital Scarlet Letter

Nearly every crime is posted in massive databases. These databases are available to almost anyone - from law enforcement to nosy neighbors. There is no way to put a crime behind you, even after you've paid your debt to society. A short jail sentence – can become a lifetime criminal record in our era's town square, the Internet. To databases you are a criminal.