Dana Point Postal Shooting

I want to protest the media’s implication that manic-depressive illness could be the cause of Mark Richard Hilbun’s alleged crimes. Millions of Americans have experienced and been treated for mental illness, and only a tiny fraction of them have ever committed crimes against themselves or others. I believe that criminal acts demonstrate character defects and that mental illness is only ancillary to crime.

The stigma of having been mentally ill continues to poison the lives of millions of innocent people.

Emphasizing that Hilbun may be a manic-depressive by reprinting this “news” day after day does great harm to diagnosed manic-depressives. It provides a platform for spurious guilt by association, which translates into stigma. Worse, it reinforces the idea that illness might be an excuse for crime.

LYNN ROSS

Pasadena