http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/27/world/asia/china-mental-health-law-passes.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
Friday October 12, 2012 a long-awaited
mental health law was passed in China by their national legislature. This law
is designed as an attempt to keep people from being held in phychiatric
facilities involuntarily. For the first time, this law had standardized mental
health care services by saying mental health care must be given only on a
voluntary basis unless a person is considered a danger to himself or others.
To an American, it may seem
surprising that this law is just now being put into place, because it has been
this way in the U.S. for quite a while. A person in America can be in clear
need of mental health services but unless he is a danger to himself or others
is not obligated to receive treatment. I was thinking about this principle:
when a person can be proven a danger to himself or others, the government has
the right to step in. Since we recently talked about it in class I thought
maybe this principal could also apply to other situations, for example, capital
punishment. If it can be proven that a person is a danger to himself or others
(significantly more so than an average individual) then it could be interpreted
the government has the right to protect its people. Even with life in prison, a
person certainly presents a threat to other inmates.
I went a little off topic
from the actual article but I felt this was an important principle to explore.
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