In light of the recent events at Virginia Tech, should there be a psychological equivalent of Megan's law...?

Question

In light of the recent events at Virginia Tech, should there be a psychological equivalent of Megan's law at places such as universities, government agencies, etc. or would that cause a "witch hunt" effect?

Or is there already a form of this that exists, where a parent who is concerned of their child's safety, can ask the head of the school, to disclose this information?

The hell with hindsight...If I were a parent, I wouldn't care if it violated someone elses rights of privacy. I would think of it as an ultimate preventative measure or form of self defense.

Answer 1

Most people with mental problems never do anything wrong. I'm guessing that there are millions of mentally disturbed people in this country, tens of thousands of them with sick thoughts like that guy, and the vast majority don't act on them.

You really have no way of knowing if someone is a crazy mass murderer until they kill someone first. Think of it the other way around. If one of your future children wrote about killing, does that make him or her a murderer? Should your future kid be put in jail or branded a danger when chances are 99.999% that he or she would never harm anyone else? Who decides what is bad enough to put someone away or brand someone a danger?

Don't you realize that our country is run right now by a gang of evil psychopathic mass murderers like Bush and the people who control him? Did you ever hear how excited Bush gets when he talks about killing? Worry about these psychopaths. There probably isn't much you can do to prevent being the unlucky one in a million to get shot by some crazy guy with a gun. I'd rather take my chances than locking myself up in a room and avoiding all human contact.

Answer 2

Making medical records public would be a horrible idea. It would also discourage people from seeking help if they knew that they might be haunted by that decision 5 years later when they're looking for a job and not hired b/c they're deemed mentally unstable for making one visit to a shrink.

On a side note, I find it disturbing that every time there is a tragedy we talk of drastically curtailing freedoms in the name of safety. A slight reduction in safety is part of the cost of living in a free society, and it is a cost I gladly pay.

If we wanted to, we could wall off every college and have metal detectors and patrolling guards. It would cut crime down to zero, but I would never have gone to a school like that, nor would I want to send my kids there.

Answer 3

well this is a tough one. i think more attention should be payed to kids who seem out of the ordinary (in a bad way of course, there are weird kids who are completly normal other than a few odd quirks) but i dont know if its possible to make it a law. i think that whole thing with doctor patient confidentiality would get in the way somewhere. doctors cant tell anyone other than the patient their records, and i can see this causing an issue if a law like that was ever passed.

Answer 4

Medical Records are going to become public eventually with the growth of the internet. If mentally ill people are going to be automatically committed before doing anything WE need lots & lots of money for Lots & lots of beds. Like on another Q I answered. Do we ask for donations?

Answer 5

Riiiiiiight.....because psychology is such an exact science....no way anyone could take this new found political power and abuse it in the future....

Answer 6

the police are also parents
let them do a better profession job