People with mental illness need better, all-round care

Editor's Note: A 9-year-old boy was beaten to death by a 30-year-old man with a history of schizophrenia near his home in Changsha, Hunan province, on Nov 5. That the suspect may not be held responsible for the criminal act as he is mentally ill has triggered a heated debate online, especially because the incident is the latest in a series of violent attacks involving people with mental health problems in recent years. Two experts share their views on the issue with China Daily’s Yao Yuxin. Excerpts follow:

With netizens getting increasingly incensed at the thought of the 30-year-old suspect not receiving due legal punishment as he is mentally ill, it should be made clear that not all people with mental health problems can be exempted from criminal accountability. Only those offenders who, due to their mental condition, lose complete control of their mind when committing a crime can be exempted from criminal responsibility. So we should wait for the experts’ report on the suspect’s mental condition before jumping to any conclusion.

Besides, even if the suspect is exempted from criminal accountability, he would be under compulsory medical treatment and his relatives would have to pay compensation to the victim’s family.

People with developmental disability and their families are a vulnerable lot. Although laws have been enacted to protect their rights, they have not been effectively implemented. For example, there have been reports about families of people with mental health problems not receiving due public services and subsidies despite having a relatively low income. As such, some families let people with mental health problems roam free in the neighborhood.

Therefore, the local governments and communities have to share part of responsibility of monitoring people with mental health problems. Also, instead of always taking remedial measures after a serious incident takes place, the local authorities and communities should take preventive and precautionary measures against such attacks.

The lack of medical and trained staff to handle people with mental illness has also undermined the effects of their treatment. So medical institutions should maintain the complete medical records of such patients and make arrangements for their regular check-ups to observe whether they are strictly following the doctor’s advice after leaving the hospital or showing signs of relapse.

The government should also build more medical facilities, set up a special fund for people with mental illness and train professionals so they can get proper medical treatment.

Yue Shenshan, a lawyer at Beijing Yuecheng law firm

Indeed, incidents like the one in Changsha will spread panic among the people. But is there any evidence to show that people with mental health problems cause more harm to others than normal people? If we take into consideration incidents such as violation of traffic rules and road accidents, and breaking of food and drug safety norms, people with developmental disability cause less damage to society than normal people.

Although proper research may not be able to erase the impact of such incidents from people’s minds, it could help them treat such cases rationally.

There are many reasons why people with mental health problems attack others — with the lack of proper social service being an important one. Despite’s the government’s help, many people with mental health problems and their families live isolated lives without any social support because of the stigma attached to mental illness. This puts mentally ill people under a lot of stress and could result in their getting violent.

Indefinite detention of all people with mental illness is not the right way to reduce violent incidents. Instead, aside from timely treatment, more social services should be provided for mentally ill patients in order to improve their mental condition.

In addition, according to the existing law, the parents of a mentally ill person have to pay the financial compensation for any serious offense their child commits. But since the parents or guardians of many people with developmental disability cannot pay the compensation amount because of their poor financial condition, the government and society should set up a compensation fund for victims and their families.

Qu Xiangfei, a researcher at the Institute of Law, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences

The views don’t necessarily represent those of China Daily.