60 MINUTES: Duke University Rape Case

60 MINUTES: Duke University Rape Case

Lesley Stahl April 15, 2007
60 Minutes
524 West 57th Street
New York NY 10019 Duke Rape Case

Dear Lesley Stahl,

I write about a recurring pattern on 60 Minutes denigrating persons with
a history of mental illness.
On Sunday April 15, 2007 Lesley Stahl interviewing Roy Cooper, North
Carolina Attorney General, reported, “After his three-month investigation
Attorney General Cooper realized that the accuser was clearly mentally
unbalanced. Records Nifong himself filed in the case show Crystal Mangaham had a
long psychological history and has taken anti psychotic medication like Depakote
and Seroquel.”
What is the connection between being “clearly mentally unbalanced,” and
committing a crime or falsely accusing another person?
Do you believe that mental illness causes crime or violence? There is no
causal connection between an accusation of mental illness and crime or violence.
But it is a pervasive stereotype among journalists, police, prosecutors and some
psychiatrists.
If anything it is the psychiatric drugs which cause people to act
irrationally. American journalists are mostly ignorant of British clinical
studies which prove that connection. I am aware that Mike Wallace is a spokesman
for the drug industry. I see the many ads from drug companies which sponsor your
show.
I write and speak to politicians, journalists, police and
prosecutors about this problem. As in your report there are frequent immediate
references to a history of mental illness to explain crime or violence. At
arraignments an inappropriate time, prosecutors regularly cite a history of
mental illness, as if it was the cause of the accused’s actions. They repeat
allegations from neighbors, relatives, lovers and police as if all of them are
psychiatrists. It shows how arbitrary psychiatry is.
On one occasion US Rep. Delahunt (D-MA) when he was a District Attorney in
Massachusetts said of a suspect that “there is no history of mental illness” as
if that would explain the crime.
I called to the headquarters of the Mass state police. I asked why
the police do not listen to a person they believe to have a mental illness. He
said “because you cannot rely on what they say."
I said, “That implies that normal people do not lie.”
With respect to discrimination, persons with disabilities have the same
legal protections as members of racial, religious, sexual orientation and gender
groups. But people, including journalists and prosecutors prioritize kinds of
discrimination.
I’m aware of how laws are written. The public discourse regarding
psychiatry is controlled by the psychiatric industry, the drug industry, the
human services corporations and the academic research industry.
The National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) is a lobbyist for the drug
companies. They get $2-$3 million each year from drug companies to promote drug
treatment. Journalists often quote NAMI as an advocacy organization for the
rights of patients.
I want to register my objection to the portrayal of the accuser in the
Duke rape case. I do not defend her. I was skeptical of her accusations as soon
as Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson arrived on the scene. I live in Cambridge, MA
the incubator for limousine liberals and the PC movement. There are few places
with public discourse as distorted as in Cambridge. The upper class liberals in
Cambridge does not tolerate criticism. They do not advocate equal opportunities
for persons with disabilities.


--
Roy Bercaw, Editor
ENOUGH ROOM
Cambridge MA USA