I find this false choice of extremes mindbogglingly strange & blinkered but not unsurprising coming from American culture. From the article: > they are identif

I find this false choice of extremes mindbogglingly strange & blinkered but not unsurprising coming from American culture. From the article: > they are identified; arrested; committed to a hospital with a psych ward; put on antipsychotics; allowed to stabilize; and released, at which point the entire cycle begins again. For the author the answer is to never release them, which for the numbers of people involved is a horrifying idea. Incarcerating large numbers of people because statistically a few of them might cause problems for others is not what a free & fair society should aim for. There are other options, which is to add steps beyond release. Provide sheltered housing & levels of care for these people so that they can try to build meaningful lives in society. It will fail for some and for many it will be long term, but the costs are much less. My wife has worked in mental health in a couple of European countries at several of these levels of care and it's not perfect but it works for enough people that lives are changed and costs to society are reduced. This is also the case for drug abusers, providing the means for those that want to escape the vicious cycle to do so. In short, other ways are possible, if the culture can be flexible enough to try them.