Is it wrong to blame someone for a crime if they are mentally unstable?

[drummer girl]

Words cannot describe how tragic the shooting of Sandy Hook Elementary School is.
All over twitter and Facebook, people are saying that this man deserves to go to hell or die in some cruel way.
While I agree he deserved to be punished in a civil manor, was it even his fault if he was mentally ill? Just wondering. (And no I'm not saying he was mentally ill, that hasn't been announced...just hypothetically speaking)

[Sharing is Caring]

Depends on how unstable. Sometimes I feel unstable but I don't go shooting kids.

[new.g]

there are lots of mentally ill people who dont do what he's done, so yes he is still guilty

[Carlee P.]

It depends.

[shallowapple575]

It depends on whether or not they knew they were commiting a crime

[Black Dragon]

Where's society's punishment.

[John Smith]

Legally, if he was alive, he could possibly be absolved of his crime for insanity and he'd be sent to a mental facility. It's only just, in my opinion. The guy could, hypothetically, have had no control over his mental faculties.

[Mercury Pearl]

The mentally ill plea in the court makes me uneasy, since its so easy for anyone who shoots someone to claim that they are mentally ill or unstable, but doesn't that mean that anyone who chooses to kill another in a malicious act means they're mentally ill? And if so, why isn't that used in almost every trial?

[Apple]

Honestly, I think he needs to be kept in a cell, away from society, not murdered. He obviously planned some of this out if he brought a gun to a school. He had knowledge of guns. He knew what he was doing. Even if he was mentally deranged, he should be punished. I don't think he should have the luxury of dying. He should have to be miserable for the rest of his life for the innocert lives he took. My prayers tonight are for those children and their parents, and the other 7 adults and their families.

[unknown]

mental illness is, almost always, more of a psychological battle than a physical one. it doesn't force you to grab a gun, and to shoot up people who can't defend themselves. therefore, it's not an excuse to be exempted from a crime.

let me give you an example: john nash struggled with extreme schizophrenia (paranoia, hearing voices, hallucinating, that kind of stuff) for almost 40 years before functioning as a 'normal' human being again, and probably would have won a fields medal (nobel prize for math) in addition to being a nobel laureate (which he achieved during the 90's, after his problems starting fading) had he not been in and out of mental hospitals, ruined his marriage (though he later re-married), and became a recluse to his peers at princeton (therefore cutting his mathematical career early on). one can only imagine the superhuman willpower it took for him to put up with all these problems and yet still establish himself as one of the foremost applied mathematicians in the world.

there are NO excuses.