John Errol Ferguson Research Paper

Francis Rodriguez Dec 1,2014

Ms.Singh/E5H Common Core Essay

The Mentally Ill Should Be Responsible For Their Actions

John Errol Ferguson was executed by lethal injection in 2013, Florida. After being diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia along with the brutal murder’s of eight people in 1977 and 1978 he waited on Florida's death for for 34 years. The question at hand is whether this could have been avoided? As the national alliance of mental illness describes, “...mental illness’ are medical conditions that disrupt a persons thinking, feeling,mood, ability to relate to others and daily functioning”. This includes schizophrenia. So, was Mr.Ferguson really at fault here?Should he had been executed knowing that he had

If we go easy on them and set them free because they have a mental disorder, they can be a danger to society. For example, Micheal Fisher, who was accused of attempting to abduct a boy from a sports arena in Victoriaville. He was ultimately not found guilty due to mental illness,yet four years later there he is trying to commit the same crime again. It is people like him the reason why we should punish mentally ill offenders with incarceration. People, no matter if mentally disabled or not should be punished equally under the law. That's what it says on the American declaration of independence “...all men are created equal.”. Meaning, we are being fair in placing them in prison. If we put them in a mental institution, they will not listen. For example the attack on Jill Francis, a psychiatric technician who was punched by one of her patients. Even months after the incident, there's still a bruise under her left eye from reconstructive surgery. The person who punched her was Desmond Watkins, who has been previously imprison for assault with a deadly weapon. Francis said that Watkins “..just got fixated all of a sudden that he wanted to go back to prison, and that by hitting someone that would enable him to go back”.This shows that mentally ill offenders are dangerous and unpredictable, and should not be release or treated, but

You try your best to talk them out of it, but it isn't enough in the end. Is it your fault?Could you have done anything else to prevent this? The same goes with mentally ill law breakers. When they commit a crime, are they entirely responsible? No, they couldn't help it because they were born like that. Meaning they are less accountable for their actions and decisions since their brains functions are a product of human biology and social influences. Biology affects us so much that many of them don't know right from wrong.For example, Charles Whitman, who shot 13 people dead and wounded 32 others before committing suicide. Later it was found out at his autopsy that “...a cancerous tumor the size of a walnut was invading his amygdala-a part of the brain important in regulating fear and rage”(the brain bank paragraph 2).This means that maybe he did not have full control over his entire body, but his brain did. So we shouldn't be too quick to judge on the mentally ill, and give them the medical attention they need. Treatment does more than jail. In fact it is estimated that between 70 and 90% of mentally ill individuals who get treatment have significant reduction of symptoms and improved