On February 14, 2018, Nikolas Cruz brutally murdered 14 students and three staff members and injured 17 others at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Cruz planned to shoot for seven months before he stalked the three-story classroom building for seven minutes, firing 140 rounds with a semi-automatic rifle down hallways and into classrooms.
Cruz pleaded guilty. This petition set the stage for a three-month sentence trial that ended on October 13, 2022, in which the jury voted 9-3 for the death sentence. Jurors said those voting for life believe Cruz is mentally ill and should be avoided. Under Florida law, a death sentence requires unanimity.
Cruz’s sentence is for life without parole. Angry family members of the 17 victims spent two days berating Cruz as a villain, a coward, a monster, and a less than human deserving of a painful death.
In the days following the mass shooting, law enforcement agencies and officers came under scrutiny after it emerged that there were a series of red flags about Cruz. By the date of the shooting, Broward County sheriff’s deputies had gone to the Cruz home more than 40 times making calls that included anything from a “mentally ill person” to a “domestic disturbance”. It was revealed that Cruz was a client of a mental health clinic because he was “dealing with mental health issues” and “voices in his head”.
How many mass shootings will it take before we admit that serious, untreated mental illness plays a role in the mass killings? Unless we get these people treated before they destroy themselves, these preventable tragedies will continue.
Sadly, we have compounded the danger posed by people with untreated mental illness through their shameful neglect. When the major state psychiatric hospitals closed some 50 years ago, the money saved was earmarked for community treatment and housing. Instead, states and the federal government siphoned money to cut taxes and/or build prisons. The tragic result is that our jails and prisons have become our largest mental hospitals.
The general public has the right to be protected from the consequences of mentally ill individuals who either leave their medication or do not receive treatment at all. We must all be able to feel confident that our children and teachers will be safe in schools. We don’t have to worry about us being shot at in grocery stores, in movie theaters, in hospitals, in our churches, in our homes, in malls, or during the Fourth of July parade.
It should be emphasized that psychiatric patients in treatment are no more likely to experience violence than the general population. However, it is also clear that without treatment some people with serious mental illnesses are more prone to violent behavior than the general population.
Nicolas Cruz will spend the rest of his life behind bars. His cell measured 9 feet by 12 feet with a bed, sink, and toilet. For one hour a day, he will be allowed alone in an outdoor cage. Since Cruz is serving a life sentence, he will be last in line for education and rehabilitation programs.
The scale of the loss for the families of the Cruz victims is unimaginable. Their loved ones were all murdered by a deranged person who had to be in a mental health treatment facility and was never allowed to purchase a gun.
Sometimes people with serious mental illness may need a period of involuntary psychotherapy. We need an approach that balances the protection of their civil rights with the rights of the general public to be protected from dangerous persons. Involuntary psychological commitment can be life-saving, both for the patients themselves and for those around them. Excessive concern about civil rights has sometimes overshadowed efforts to provide safety and care for those who need it most.
People with mental illness need and deserve a decent place to live and easy access to care. They should not live homeless on the streets in this country. We multiply the danger they pose through their shameful negligence. Not only does the treatment work, but it is the most humane and cost-effective thing to do.
Dottie Bacharis is the mother of a son who took his own life after a 13-year struggle with mental illness. She is the author of Mind on the Run: A Bipolar Chronicle, a book about her son’s struggle with bipolar disorder and her family’s efforts to help him get treatment. As a result of her personal experience, she has become a mental health advocate working to remove barriers to treatment and improve care for individuals with severe mental illness. She retired from a Washington, D.C. law firm and now lives in Fort Myers.