Is forced treatment for the mentally ill ever humane?
Worsening homelessness prompts new mental-health policies in California and New York
IN AMERICA’S big cities, a walk down the street or a wait for the subway can be an exercise in avoidance. Scores of commuters in Los Angeles, New York and elsewhere don metaphorical blinders every day in order to ignore those sleeping fitfully on the train or battling psychosis on the street. Such indifference is morally fraught, but it is also a reflection of how common homelessness and public displays of mental illness have become.
This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline “Care or confinement”
From the December 24th 2022 edition
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