David Baxter PhD
Late Founder
Victims Speak to a Greater Good
Treatment Advocacy Center
July 7, 2009
Many have been inspired by several families who have suffered preventable tragedies, involving someone with a mental illness, who vow to make a positive difference.
Such is the case in a new report by the National Alliance on Mental Illness and the Murder Victims' Families for Human Rights.
Double Tragedies: Victims Speak Out Against the Death Penalty for People with Severe Mental Illness highlights some who have contributed a great deal to improving treatment for those who need it most.
Instead of seeking revenge, they eloquently speak out against the death penalty for those with severe mental illnesses and have advocated for laws that would use treatment as a way to prevent such tragedies from occurring in the future.
Among those featured in the report, Amanda and Nick Wilcox, Pat Webdale, Carla Jacobs, Linda Gregory, and Joe Bruce have all followed tragedy with advocacy for assisted outpatient treatment.
Pat Webdale recalls in the report that the morning after her daughter Kendra?s murder on the New York City subway tracks, she was ?standing in my kitchen and yelling, ?Why wasn?t he taking his medicine? I am going to do something about this!??
The result was the passage of New York State?s Kendra?s Law, one of the most tested assisted outpatient treatment measures in the country. Now, ten years later, Pat Webdale and these other heroes know they have made a difference measuring far beyond just suggesting an eye for an eye. They have prevented other families from having to ask; ?Why??
Treatment Advocacy Center
July 7, 2009
Many have been inspired by several families who have suffered preventable tragedies, involving someone with a mental illness, who vow to make a positive difference.
Such is the case in a new report by the National Alliance on Mental Illness and the Murder Victims' Families for Human Rights.
Double Tragedies: Victims Speak Out Against the Death Penalty for People with Severe Mental Illness highlights some who have contributed a great deal to improving treatment for those who need it most.
Instead of seeking revenge, they eloquently speak out against the death penalty for those with severe mental illnesses and have advocated for laws that would use treatment as a way to prevent such tragedies from occurring in the future.
Among those featured in the report, Amanda and Nick Wilcox, Pat Webdale, Carla Jacobs, Linda Gregory, and Joe Bruce have all followed tragedy with advocacy for assisted outpatient treatment.
Pat Webdale recalls in the report that the morning after her daughter Kendra?s murder on the New York City subway tracks, she was ?standing in my kitchen and yelling, ?Why wasn?t he taking his medicine? I am going to do something about this!??
The result was the passage of New York State?s Kendra?s Law, one of the most tested assisted outpatient treatment measures in the country. Now, ten years later, Pat Webdale and these other heroes know they have made a difference measuring far beyond just suggesting an eye for an eye. They have prevented other families from having to ask; ?Why??
