What Care for the Criminally Insane Can Teach Us About Mental Health Treatment

PORTLAND, Ore. — In the midst of a harrowing psychotic episode in summer 2009, Annie broke into her ex-husband's house and used a hammer and scissors to lay waste to plates, knickknacks, clothing, "and honestly, I don't know what else."

Had the mother of four, a retired captain in the National Guard, chosen to plead guilty, as a first offender she might have gotten off with the six months she'd already spent in jail.