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Bill: Mental Illness Act
Details
Status[?]: passed
Votes: This is an ordinary bill. It requires more yes votes than no votes. This bill will not pass any sooner than the deadline.
Voting deadline: April 4475
Description[?]:
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Proposals
Article 1
Proposal[?] to change Compulsory detainment of the mentally ill
Old value:: The mentally ill can be compulsorily detained if they are deemed to pose a threat to others.
Current: The mentally ill can be compulsorily detained if they are deemed to pose a threat to themselves or others.
Proposed: The mentally ill can be compulsorily detained if they are deemed to pose a threat to themselves or others.
Debate
These messages have been posted to debate on this bill:
| Date | 18:52:26, October 24, 2018 CET | From | Unsubmissive Beluzian Workers Party | To | Debating the Mental Illness Act |
| Message | We do not believe that mentally ill should be detained at all, as people with mental illnesses are no more dangerous than other sectors of the population. Mentally ill people do not commit crimes at all, just like there being no association of gun violence with mentally ill people. Mentally ill people cannot personally function as they are impaired, so suggesting that they have the tendency or even the mindset to commit murder when they cannot is ridiculous. There are other, far more accurate, predictors of criminal behaviour which nobody would consider to be sufficient to justify detention. The vast majority of crimes are committed by young men and homicides are committed by people under the influence of alcohol. Yet, rightly, the law does not permit the pre-emptive detention of young men, or of alcoholics. Why should people who have mental illnesses be treated differently? Furthermore, DSPD (Dangerous Severe Personality Disorder), which is the official term for mental illness is not a psychiatric diagnosis, but a legal category, meaning that it cannot be treated. No cure has been found for mentally ill and it is unlikely there ever will. Using DSPD as a label is condescending and dehumanising for people whom the government fears and would like to have an excuse to detain, and who are unlikely to generate strong public sympathy. Rather than demonising and detaining people, the government should be providing mental health services which work in partnership with the people they are supposed to be helping. Yes, mentally ill people do not function properly, but it does not mean that they are not human. Mentally ill people are people naturally born out of vaginal delivery, not created or thrown through outer space to experience humanity. It is absolutely unacceptable to detain people indefinitely against their will, simply on the suspicion that they may be dangerous in future, when we are not going to do anything to help them with their condition. Assessing the risk that someone may be dangerous is extremely difficult, and can cause further deterioration of the person's mental state, and thus has to be balanced against the harms of indefinite detention – for example, loss of employment and family contact, loss of dignity and self-esteem, institutionalisation and thoughts of suicide. The number of people we have in mind may be small, but more people, for example the large number of people with diagnosed personality disorders, could nevertheless be covered by the wording of the proposals – we should frame laws in such a way that they are as difficult as possible to abuse, rather than creating wide definitions and then trusting the authorities to follow the framers’ intentions. Furthermore, there is a strong hostility attached to mental illness, with a widespread public perception that people with mental health problems are “dangerous nutters” – however, it is not true that at some point in our life, especially as we advance in age, that mental health problems will occur, almost always without exhibiting violent or dangerous behaviour? Detaining people with such problems will help to feed this false perception, and will be detrimental to efforts to improve the public understanding of mental illness. Doctors are healers, not jailers. Many medical professionals will avoid identifying a patient as having DSPD if they know that this may result in their patient being detained. By not identifying the mentally ill as having DSPD, it allows us to further understand what the mentally ill experience and how best to help their condition, and can boost the self-confidence of mentally ill people that have been treated as 'aliens' and 'not of this world'. Outdated conservative views on the mentally ill must stop, but I am not in the conscience of voting against this, as our party has a strong anti-detention for the mentally ill stance and think that leniency in what constitutes detention does not resolve or help those that are mentally ill. It continues to dehumanise them and degrade their self-confidence. Any left wing party who say they are for equality and freedom cannot be called leftist if they do not believe that everyone, no matter their race, class, appearance should be treated equally without any obstructions and do not have the conscience to abstain or voice out on an issue that has been subjected to suppression for many years. We are the only party that has voiced out on this matter and we urge all parties from all sides of the aisle to join me in condemning detention of the mentally ill. |
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Voting
| Vote | Seats | |||||
| yes |
Total Seats: 278 | |||||
| no | Total Seats: 0 | |||||
| abstain | Total Seats: 222 |
| Random fact: Party candidates for head of state elections are not visible to the public. This means that you cannot see who will run and who will not, which adds another strategic element to the elections. |
| Random quote: "Politics have no relation to morals." - Niccolo Machiavelli |