Are the mentally unstable more at risk to being stitched up?

Question

Shouldn't the public be more concerned that the mentally unstable and retarded are more at risk to being stitched up for crimes so that the real criminals are still free?

Answer 1

I think it's a legitimate concern, yes. It's not as if the Barry George case is a one-off - what about Stefan Kizsko, Stephen Downing, Colin Stagg, etc.

The Colin Stagg case was an exceptionally repulsive and nasty case of police wrongdoing, and fortunately a sensible judge threw it out of court before it could go any further. Nevertheless, he'd still spent a year on remand for a crime he did not commit. It was very much a case of making the evidence fit the crime; Stagg's only crime was to be a bit daft and a bit strange, and to live in the same area where Rachel Nickell was murdered.

Still, he was luckier than Downing and Kizsko who spent YEARS in prison despite being totally innocent. Tellingly, I don't think any police officers lost their jobs or were prosecuted over ANY of these shocking cases.

Answer 2

Anna If you can remember the sad case of Timothy Evans who was hanged for a crime probably committed by John Christie. He was not quite "all there" However if you are refering to Barry George who as alleged to have raped a woman  then its a different matter altogether. He was lucky. He was not hanged

Answer 3

The mentally unstable used to be kept safely tucked away for both their own safety and that of the general public. Then came another bright idea from our bleeding heart leftie friends, which they decided to call 'Care in the Community'. The rest, as they say, is history.

Edit: The user below is a trifle harsh. Yes, LEGISLATION was brought in during the 80's, but the ground was laid long before that. See http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/229517... Also, as long ago as 1998, Frank Dobson, then Health Secretary, wrote and confirmed "Care in the community has failed" (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/141651... but we're still waiting for something to be done about it. As noted by another user in a different question, Margaret Thatcher withdrew free milk in schools, but in their eleven years in power to date, Nu Layber hasn't seen fit to reinstate it. Not have they overturned the vast majority of measures introduced by Mrs Thatcher and subsequent Conservative governments. Happy to stand corrected, but I can't think of a single thing introduced by the Conservatives that has since been reversed by Nu Layber.

Answer 4

The Claw lies. Care in the Community was fronted by the lovely right-wing Maggie Thatcher Tory party as a way to cut public services. Now look at where we are.

Answer 5

you bet ye.

Answer 6

Murder is not justice and who is anyone on Earth to take anyones life. He that takes the life of one that took a life of another is as guilty as the ones that took the first life.Where is the justice of sentence to death.

Answer 7

It is better for society that Barry George is locked up.

Fact.

Answer 8

Yes that a valid observation.

A lot of these people can be easily manipulated and can have words put in their mouths & they simply run with it and before you know it they have convinced themselves they have done the deed, when they weren't even there.

It certainly takes a good man to figure it out at times :)

Answer 9

People with mental health issues, people with learning difficulties and people with personality disorders are all much more likely to come into conflict with the law than the average individual.

They are often at a serious disadvantage when being questioned because they may not understand the process, the words being used, they may say what they think the questioner wants to hear, or they may fantasise or create an answer because they don't know how to say "I don't know", or they may feel too intimidated to say nothing.

People who behave "oddly" are viewed by most as suspicious or potentially harmful. The police are no different and may see them as an easy target.

It is important that the vulnerable in our society are protected, and that includes the "odd" ones.

Answer 10

I don't think the public give a stuff about the mentally unstable.

Answer 11

a lot of the mentally unstable are committing the crimes, you need to be unstable to participate in crimes   there are different degree's of mental illness such as Munhausens where the suffer needs to inflict pain on others. abuse by proxy is the method used. sufferers     gravitate towards the caring profession in their need for vulnerable victims. The public are more at  risk than the mentally unstable because it is not always a visible illness

Answer 12

The short answer to that is yes.