Cho Never Received Outpatient Treatment

Shockingly, Cho never a href=”http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/06/AR2007050601403.html?hpid=topnews”received the mandatory treatment /ahe was court-ordered to have in December of 2005 (Hat Tip: Bugs): br /br /blockquoteSeung Hui Cho never received the treatment ordered by a judge who declared him dangerously mentally ill less than two years before his rampage at Virginia Tech, law enforcement officials said, exposing flaws in Virginia’s labyrinthine mental health system, including confusion about the law, spotty enforcement and inadequate funding….br /br /When a court gives a mandatory order that someone get outpatient treatment, that order is to the individual, not an agency,” said Christopher Flynn, director of the Cook Counseling Center. The one responsible for ensuring that the mentally ill person receives help in these sorts of cases, he said, is the mentally ill person. “I’ve never seen someone delivered to me with an order that says, ‘This person has been discharged; he’s now your responsibility.’ That doesn’t happen.”/blockquotebr /br /Yes, it’s always best to let a mentally ill person decide whether or not they need to attend court-ordered treatment. Maybe the next step should be to let criminals decide whether or not they want to go to jail or not.