TY  - JOUR
T1  - THe responsibility of the mentally subnormal
AU  - Heald GH
Y1  - 1909/11/06
N1  - 10.1001/jama.1909.02550190055013
JO  - Journal of the American Medical Association
SP  - 1579
EP  - 1579
VL  - LIII
IS  - 19
N2  - To the Editor: 
    —Your editorial on the above subject (Oct. 23, 1909, liii, 1403) is sound. No man who has committed a murder and who has been judged irresponsible may safely be entrusted with liberty. With the knowledge that his past record of insanity renders him immune to punishment, he has little to deter him from a repetition of his antisocial act; and an act once successfully committed is, under such circumstances, a constant invitation to its repetition.Whether the state should feel obliged to support at its expense those who are a constant menace to others and who cannot possibly be useful citizens, I cannot say; there might be a more summary way of dealing with them; but if there be no death penalty certainly there should be no less than a life sentence for them.The man with a mental make-up which sets at naught the right of
SN  - 0002-9955
M3  - doi: 10.1001/jama.1909.02550190055013
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jama.1909.02550190055013
ER  -