Now they mandate treatment!

This is from last weeks Washingtonpost.  It is followed by a link from today's New York Times.  I will write about violence, guns and the mentally ill in weeks to come. Unfortunately I have more stories than I want to remember. It is important to know that even among the most serious mentally ill there are only a small number who are prone to violence.

Jared Loughner forcible medication to continue, judge rules

By Elizabeth Flock

This photo released Feb. 22 by the U.S. Marshal's Service shows Tucson shooting rampage suspect Jared Loughner. (AP) A federal juge on Wednesday ruled that prison officials can forcibly give Loughner anti-psychotic drugs so that he can be mentally fit for trial.
In May, doctors diagnosed Loughner with schizophrenia, and U.S. District Judge Larry A. Burns in May declared Loughner to be unfit for trial. He has since been undergoing treatment.
Attorneys for Jared Loughner filed an emergency motion on Friday asking Burns to stop officials from giving him drugs, but Burns said he deferred to the advice of doctors.
According to the 1960 Supreme Court Decision Dusky v. United States, an individual must be able to communicate with his lawyer and understand the charges against him in order to be tried in court. Doctors who examined Loughner earlier said he could do neither.
Loughner has several times thrown chairs around his cell and has spit on and lunged at his defense attorney. Staff at the Springfield, Mo., facility, where he is being held, said his behavior was “escalating” before he received medication.
In its latest filing, the government said he is “tolerating the medication well.”
Loughner is charged with the Jan. 8, 2011 Tucson, Arizona shooting that injured U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and killed six others.