Mental Illness and Violence

As the rhetoric is ramping up and it is becoming clear that Jared Loughner was dealing with some emerging, untreated mental illness, it is worth stating yet again: people with mental illness are far more likely to be the victims of violent crime than to do violent crime themselves. A quick Google search will bring up several psychological and psychiatric studies that bear this reality out. Mental illness is still highly stigmatized in our society. I hope that the ensuing debate does not exacerbate the problem.