In a succinct and vivid piece, Carol Smith has distilled the challenge of dealing with severe mental illness in a society that endeavors to pretend that no such thing exists. Two recent cases in the Seattle area demonstrate the unacceptable consequences of our current approach--innocent lives are lost, families ruined, and the consciencious professionals who try to balance treatment options with community needs are frustrated beyond measure. But Smith places responsibility where it belongs: our social system lacks the strategies, resources and support for addressing this issue.

This article shows how extremely complicated dealing with mental health issues are because of the complexity of treatment, monitoring, privacy issues and societal views. The reporter does an excellent job presenting the task force's findings and placing them into larger context. She makes it clear that this is a tragedy for the victim, the perpetrator and for society as a whole; this snapshot into Seattle's event unfortunately also plays out in cities across the country.

A very shallow piece on a very deep problem. No investigation was done except to report on committee reports. I hope this is the beginning of a long look at a nrglected problem. So few people are found innocent by reason of insanity that each one normally make national news, but instead we committ these people to prisons and ignore them and call them criminals and release them with no help at the end of their sentences.

A state issue with national implications.

While the lack of availability of the report mentioned makes final evaluation impossible, this story gives compelling evidence for changing the current system of dealing with certain mental health issues.