Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id VAA18721 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Sun, 17 Mar 2002 21:32:43 GMT X-Originating-IP: [62.31.29.83] User-Agent: Microsoft-Outlook-Express-Macintosh-Edition/5.0.3 Date: Sun, 17 Mar 2002 21:24:39 +0000 Subject: RE: question about memes From: Steve Drew <srdrew_1@hotmail.com> To: <memetics@mmu.ac.uk> Message-ID: <B8BABA16.342%srdrew_1@hotmail.com> In-Reply-To: <200203171959.TAA18210@alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk> Content-type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit X-OriginalArrivalTime: 17 Mar 2002 21:26:43.0997 (UTC) FILETIME=[6F8ACCD0:01C1CDFA] Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
Hi Lawrence
> Date: Sun, 17 Mar 2002 08:21:36 -0500
> From: "Lawrence DeBivort" <debivort@umd5.umd.edu>
> Subject: RE: question about memes
>
> Good morning Kenneth,
>
> My impression is that in the US if a person is condemned for criminal
> insanity, that they remain in prison for the criminally insane and are not
> released until they 'prove' they are healed (or their sentence runs out?). I
> don't know ehether this is followed in practice, given the general policy of
> releasing criminals and people with mental problems into the general
> population, but this has been the apporach for at least a couple of
> high-visibility cases that I know about: Hinckley, who shot Reagan, and
> Dennis Sweeney, who assassinated Al Lowenberg. Hinckley has asked several
> times to be released, and his doctors simply post their diagnosis that he is
> still sick.
>
> Do you know how release-upon-healing is handled in Belgium?
>
> best regards,
> Lawrence
I don't know anything about the above, but i do recall an experiment where
people (sociologists) voluntarily committed themselves to institutions in
the USA, and whilst they were there proceed to copy the shrinks, ie taking
note of their meetings etc. The upshot was that the people running the
experiment had difficulty extracting their people afterwards. So the picture
is less clear cut than one of whether the person is insane or not, but of
whether the doctors think so which may not be the same thing. (i think it ws
Irving Goffman's work on Asylum's, or some one trying his ideas out).
Regards
Steve
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