In canada, a BC study shows:

The most common offences committed by people with mental health problems are thefts under $5,000, assaults, and breaches of court orders.

http://www.cmha.bc.ca/get-informed/p...issues/justice

Normal people are 10% more likely to commit acts of violence on strangers than people with mental illness:

http://psychcentral.com/archives/violence.htm


Why is mental illness getting used as the reason for every mass murder? Especially the recent shooting. What about misogyny? Male priviledge? Rape culture? The media?

I believe in shootings it probably is a reason as no sane person would do such a thing. I believe that rape usually isn't caused by a mental illness. I just get a different feeling for it.

I think it could be a factor but nowadays in America there is TOO much weight given to it.

They are being used as scapegoats to perhaps evoke sympathy or lower jail sentences, which is selfish.

It hurts the Autistic community each time they publicize a mass murder's "autism" as a contribution to their criminal motives. I hate it.

A sane person could very well do these things, and they do all the time unfortunately.

You don't have to be crazy to take someone's life.

Each individual case is different, so I don't think it's right to pass judgement on or make a blanket statement on every case based on the specific circumstances of one case or even a few cases.

No. But instead of blame going to disorder and illness, the USA should be giving better mental health education and removing that stigma.

Though the few that have had mental issues mainly just exacerbate whatever is fueling their rage; it is not the main reason or cause at all.

No.

To an extent. It should not remove an individual from the legal consequences to murdering one or more people. While serving out a sentence, provided it is not a death sentence, they should be given psychiatric help.

Edit: Misunderstood the question in my first post. Mental Illness is not the cause of mass murder. Mass murder is a potential outcome of mental illness in its severe form.

I believe that murdering is always an act of mental illness, but that's a matter of opinion I guess.

Nope. It doesn't cause people to commit murders there's usually other factors (bullying, sexism, racism, homophobia, classism etc) but it shouldn't be ignored. There's such a stigma with mental ilnness that it doesn't get treated correctly and most people are unaware, unwilling, or unable to seek help. Mental illness is one of the most important issues because its something that could lead to murders, rape, or any other crime and if we can teach people how to detect and treat them earlier it might prevent these crimes.

I think there should be mandatory mental health examinations for everyone, the same way you have a dental check or a physical yearly.

There is a stigma towards mental illness. Mentally ill people are seen as nothing but "crazies". Crazy people are expected to do crazy things like murdering people. Like maiko said, you don't have to be crazy do that though. Not all murderers are mentally ill.

Someone on twitter mentioned something interesting about how if it really were mental illness to blame, then mentally ill women would be committing acts just as bad, just as often.

This kid knew what he was doing/saying. It wasn't mental illness that caused him to kill 9 people.

That kid was perfectly normal. He just decided to kill people

You can't pinpoint it on one thing, like "just mental illness" or "just guns" or "just bullying" or "just the individual,"

It's a culmination of all these factors. You can't just blame one thing. But out of these, gun accessibility is the biggest issue. No other country has these mass murders. America is completely obliviously to it all. They're just like "oh how tragic, another one" and carry on with their lives.

I think mental illness is to blame in many cases, but the media needs to be mindful in terms of when and how often they report mental illness is the cause. If he were black, this would've been reported as a hoodlum shooting people up, and if he were middle eastern it would be reported as terrorism... and then anyone else gets the mental illness stuff, no questions asked.

Sometimes some people are just evil... but for the most part, I think it's a combination of many factors, some sort of mental issue probably in there. The main issue I see though is the availability of guns, because this attack might've not even been deadly if he had been using a knife or something, and then we wouldn't need to be discussing this so much.

THIS.

I was so pissed when they were using the Aspergers of the Sandy Hook shooter so abusively in the media. I have Aspergers and I would never shoot a place up.