Alcohol can alter judgement and be considered a cause in accidents, why can't drugs designed to alter the brain be considered a cause in crime/accident?
Many years ago I took Prozac for a short period, (a week or two). It totally changed my personality. The change didn't make me criminal in itself, but it made it possible.
I (at the time) came up with the harsh judgement my life was a waste, black and white, all or nothing judgement, and actively made plans for offing myself to end the waste.

" Although Housworth was charged with aggravated battery of an HCF officer in September 2007 for allegedly choking the officer with his belly chain, or restraint, he denied choking the officer. He told jurors he was first "clotheslined" and pepper-sprayed by the officer before responding in self-defense. "

So he's previously tried the "They started it" excuse, now he's moved on to the "Prozac made me do it" excuse.

If you believe this guy, you should be on a high dose of waking-the-hell-up.

I'ld love to see you hooked on a drug Neuroskeptic. Say for example a three month stay in the hospital (not a jail) with a daily injection of "medicine", then end your supply and see how you feel.

Policemen, Firemen, Paramedics, etc. need to learn how to defend themselves from people on SSRI antidepressants. I think they should receive a special course or training in this.

There are quite a few cases on SSRI Stories where the police or firemen were responding to a call for help by the perp and, when the help arrived, they were shot and killed by the perp on SSRIs.

There was a case once in AZ where even the police chief was killed. Here is one out of Tennessee where a deputy sheriff and two firefighters were killed although the perp did not call them. He had set the house on fire.

http://www.ssristories.com/show.php?item=369

Paragraph nine reads: "Gwen Jones, told The Commercial Appeal that Williams, 41, suffered from emotional problems and was on medication for depression".

http://www.oakridger.com/stories/032000/stt_0320000046. html

Story last updated at 12:33 p.m. on Monday, March 20, 2000

Dead woman's family prays for husband accused of killing her
by Woody Baird
Associated Press
MEMPHIS -- Stacey Williams' family buried her and prayed for her husband, Frederick, who is charged with killing her along with two firefighters and a deputy sheriff.
The deputy and firefighters were shot from ambush March 8 as they arrived at the Williams' residence, which was on fire. Mrs. Williams, 32, was later found inside the house, also shot to death

I'ld love to see you hooked on a drug Neuroskeptic. Say for example a three month stay in the hospital (not a jail) with a daily injection of "medicine", then end your supply and see how you feel.
That exact thing happens to millions of people who get given opiates for cancer, after surgery, or whatever, and 99% of the time they have no problem quitting.

Ah, but maybe SSRIs are *more addictive than opiates*? Hint: I've taken both, they're really not.

"Although Housworth was charged with aggravated battery of an HCF officer in September 2007 for allegedly choking the officer with his belly chain, or restraint, he denied choking the officer. He told jurors he was first 'clotheslined' and pepper-sprayed by the officer before responding in self-defense."

But you ignored the next paragraph, neuroskeptic:

"His attorney, Alice Osburn, noted there was time missing from the prison surveillance video during the incident, in which Housworth claimed he had been beaten."

I'll wake up as soon as you tell me how and why these holes in silent witness exhibits automagically appear.

As for the-meds-made-me-do-it defense, I believe Dr. Breggin was involved in a successful criminal case where the defendant was acquitted due to "involuntary intoxication." That is, the defendant had no control over the drugs the shrink was making him take by force of law and the drugs rendered him incapable of knowing what he was doing.

A little background: in the law, crimes are said to have seven elements. My legal weaselese is a bit rusty, but if I remember right, these seven elements are:

(1)human(2)behavior(3)done with a blameworthy frame of mind(4)which three things must coincide(5)to produce the act(6)for which there are proscriptive laws and(7)penalties.

All these elements must be proven to obtain a conviction for a crime. If one of these elements is not met, then there has been no crime.

These the-meds-made-me-do-it defenses generally involve the mens rea, the blameworthy frame of mind element of the crime. If lawyers can prove that the defendant did not act with a blameworthy frame of mind, then no crime can have occurred and the defendant is acquitted. It sounds like this boy's lawyers got that done. Good for them. People need to wake the eff up about the horsecrap shrinks peddle.

On a side note, it just blows my mind that the prosecution's shrink can say the guy has antisocial personality disorder, but then fail to point out that drugs and these sorts of people have a very bad track record together.

On SSRI Stories there are 18 cases of a jury acquiting a defendant of a criminal act due to an SSRI defense. They are in the Index at

www.SSRIstories.com/index.php

They are at the top of the page immediately below the 49 school shootings/incidents.

Tony - Sure, I don't know exactly what happened - I wasn't there & I'm not party to the legal details. It's not unheard of for defense lawyers to put a defensive slant on things. All I'm saying is, this guy has a criminal history, and a history of excuses, and now he's using an excuse. Potentially this excuse will get him out of some serious jail time. If I were in his position, I know I'd use it, whether or not it was true.

Rosie - Here's an SSRI story: since SSRIs were introduced in the early 1990s, the US homicide rate in the US has fallen by about 50% & the suicide rate has fallen also; the trend is similar in other Western countries.

Regarding the non addictiveness of medicines

Lets review
We have a so called medicine, a chemical that affects the brain, but magically affects only in a good way. Unlike the non magical chemical of alcohol that affects the nervous system . Alcohols effects are subjective to the person who voluntarily takes the drug, the amount of the drug, but something happens when the person has too much of the drug affecting their consciousness.

People are, or are not alcoholics? to a non opiate

The lay person does not get to describe-define the reality of addictiveness or freedom, just the elite psychiatrists do.
Just like the elite defined Drapetomania
LINK in a slave, the slave had a mental illness of a desire for freedom.

The suicide rate remains about the same as it has been for several decades. It has definitely NOT decreased by 50%. Numbers of suicides has remained at about 30,000 per year, with some increases due to more population in the US.

There was big news last year when it was determined that the suicide rate increased from 1999 to 2005, especially among white middle aged women and men.

Suicide rate per 100,000 population from WHO, CDC, Johns Hopkins and NIMH:

7.6 per 100,000 in 1950; 10.6 in 1960; 11.5 in 1980; 12.4 in 1990; 10.4 in 2000; 11.1 in 2005

I know Eileen, that's why I wrote "since SSRIs were introduced in the early 1990s, the US homicide rate in the US has fallen by about 50% & the suicide rate has fallen also" - I didn't say it had fallen by 50%.

The fact that it has, nevertheless, fallen since SSRIs were introduced (& in most Western countries) is an "SSRI Story" you won't find on SSRIstories.com.

Neuroskeptic,

Where did you ever get the idea that the U.S. homicide rate had fallen by 50% since 1990? In 1985 the homicide rate was 7.9 per 100,000 population, In 1995 it was 8.2 and in 2005 it was 5.9. So between 1985 and 2005 it fell 25%

Experts give three reasons:
1. Roe vs. Wade: 1973
2. In 1990, 500,000 people were incarcerated and in 2005, two million people were incarcerated.
3. Since 1990 the number of policemen have quadrupled.

As for foreign countries, their crime rate, especially in Europe, began falling in 1979 - long before SSRIs.

Do your homework.