“He didn’t seem crazy”: Where violence meets health care

In an attack that could easily have been fatal, 37-year-old William Clark was recently caught on video at a Philadelphia SEPTA subway platform, first asking a woman for a cigarette, then attacking her without warning. He ultimately threw her on the subway tracks, but since no train was approaching, his victim was able to climb to safety. Of Clark, she has said that he didn't seem crazy at the time. The event, and other recent acts of violence such as the Sandy Hook school massacre, have prompted calls for better pre-emptive care for the mentally ill. Philadelphia already has a criminal mental health court in place, which was rolled out shortly after a shocking subway attack in 2008 by a mentally ill man against a fellow passenger. Advocates of the criminal mental health court say that it steers low-level offenders toward outpatient mental health treatment instead of county jail, saving jail time and preventing future acts of violence. Critics claim that expanding the reach of the judicial system into people's lives will only deter the mentally ill from seeking treatment out of fear that they will run afoul of the law.