Many have voiced concern about our broken criminal justice system, even predating Martin Luther King, Jr. The concern has been logarithmically increased, especially in the past four years. Hurray for Black Lives Matter for bringing this issue to the forefront of political discourse--though they are certainly not the first such movement to call attention to the broken, two-tiered criminal justice "system". Perhaps the adjective "two-tiered" is too simplistic, but this story is not about semantics--it is about real people who are wronged by the justice system (JS, as it will be referred to subsequently).

JS has been unfair since at least the founding of this nation, especially if one was black or American Indian (aka Native Americans). The institution of slavery is of course THE prime example of this judicial failure, commencing with the famous Supreme Court Dread Scott decision. This suppression of rights was consistently allowed (encouraged?) up until the late 19th Century vis a vis the Native Americans. Jim Crow had sway until well into the 20th Century--and still hangs on by it's nails, especially in the old South.

These are well-known problems. I will not discuss huge issues in our broken JS, such as racial unfairness, over-criminalization,
financial obstruction (i.e., those who don't have money, very likely won't get their day in court because they cannot afford competent legal counsel), etc.

This topic has been a cornerstone of progressives, mores recently because of the presidential primary season (reference to Clinton influenced alteration of a never-level playing field may be the topic for another day--although already being exposed by Michelle Alexander, etc.)

Too often, the interaction between police and citizen, whether innocent, bystander, suspect, accomplice, or just being-in-the-wrong-place-at-the wrong-time becomes a confrontation. In the somewhat recent past, police were often mediators of disputes in addition to law enforcement officers. They used to act to promote the general well-being of the populace in most situations, avoiding violence, harassment or other disruptive actions. This is unfortunately becoming a less and less frequent situations in such police-public interactions.

With advance of medical knowledge, more knowledge is accumulating of a subject more mysterious than the cosmos: the complexity of the mind. The mind-body dualism which has existed for centuries , is now being replaced with an enhanced understanding of the reciprocal effects of those two supposedly different anatomical entities. Think about these the following examples, in which somatic (bodily) initiated actions or perceptions can and do affect both brain anatomical neurochemical activity.

Presented here is not an exhaustive list, by any means. Let's limit it to just three things:

1. Maternal-child bonding. This is so well known for centuries but only recently understood scientifically. This a process similar to, but more complex than the "imprinting" of other animal species shortly after the birth of young--both birds and beasts. Again, this is a huge topic, which will not be discussed here.

2. Smiling: have you ever noticed that when you smile, even if that smile is forced, that you feel better? If you don't, then you probably don't smile enough. There are physiologic reasons why this is so. One part of the explanation is that the brain perceives the position and tensions of facial muscles, just as it does of all other body parts. The trigeminal nerve, which is main importer of these facial motor expressions into the brain, causes a cascade of events leading to to a complex range of neurohormones (serotonin, dopamine, endorphins, etc) being released, increased, suppressed depending upon the nature of that imported (i.e., perceptual) activity. Astounding that such a "simple" activity results in such complex neurologic modeling.

3. Addiction: The criminalization of addiction, as opposed to its neurobiology underpinnings has rightly shifted from addiction being viewed as a character flaw in favor of its true genesis (in the vast majority of cases) as a biologically-determined/environmentally influenced response to internal neuroanatomical/neurochemical dispositions. Again this topic is enormous, but won't be discussed here.

The point of issue is the mind

The above discussion is presented in order to form a foundation of the central thesis here. Mental illness results in unwanted behaviors, including tics, tremors, repetitive though, compulsions--in most of which instances these mal-adaptions are involuntary, yet many are susceptible to external modification in terms of remediation or occasionally resolution of those maladaptive behaviors. Such measures include psychotherapy, drug therapy, and even physical therapy. These measures are widely known in medical and non-medical circles. With proper treatment, these behaviors can be controlled, even nullified.
Lots of the public understands this.

Yet three large institutions remain oblivious to the mental illness-induced behaviors which often result in the JS intruding inappropriately into the lives of people, who would best be served by removal from the "criminal justice" system (CJS) and instead be placed into what I call "the Medical Justice system" (MJS).

The three institutions which largely do not understand and routinely misinterpret mental-illness inspired dyssocial behaviors are:
1. Police
2. Judiciary
3. Legislators

That is a very potent CJS cartel opposing or indifferent and/or denying such effects--i.e. the "mind" and its relationship to behavior.

The following study, Aspberger's Syndrome illustrates in vivid fashion one such individual case--prominent for its obvious injustice but all too common JS approach to mental illness.

The movie Rainman starring Dustin Hoffman eloquently told the tale of what used to be called "idiot savant", which in modern terminology is part of the autism spectrum diseases, probably a subset of Aspberger's. Mr. McCollum has been placed in a veritable catch 22 by our CJS: Jail will, and not, deter him from repeating his compulsive behaviors, which thankfully were non-violent. His unenviable situation is this:
1. He pleads guilty by virtue of "insanity" which would probably condemn him to a life sentence in a hospital for the criminally insane
2. He serves his time and upon release, as certainly as the Sun rises in the East, will resume his compulsive behaviors.

Thanks to wrong-thinking policies, the options alluded to do not include treatment and monitoring by mental health professionals as an out-patient. Mr. McCollum is not stupid--he obviously can operate, even repair the MTA trains and busses of which he is so fond. But he has NO control over his compulsions due to MEDICAL reasons. So, although aware of the consequences of his next conviction for a similar offense, he has no ability to control his compulsivity.

The treatment of the mentally ill in this country (let alone lots of other countries) has been utterly shameful. Reagan emptied the mental hospitals, dumping them on the street, making them the fodder for police harassment and abuse, compounded by judicial penalization, and overseen by almost completely indifferent legislatures.