The Virginia Tech shooting has prompted a number of articles on how society deals with mental illness. Jonathan Kellerman of USC has this article in the WSJ (free) discussing how the deinstitutionalization movement went too far, throwing the baby out with the bathwater. "Given the excesses of the past ... extreme caution is warranted. But like drunk drivers, we sway from one side of the legal road to the other and find the sensible center lane elusive. Unless we confront the unpleasant fact that the brains of a small percentage of our citizens incubate dark, disturbed thoughts that can blossom into vicious behavior, we can look forward to repeats of last week's outrage."

Columnist/psychiatrist Charles Krauthammer notes, "We decided a half a century ago that our more eccentric and crazy fellow citizens wouldn't be locked up in asylums easily. It was a very humane decision but with the inevitable consequence that some who really need protection and quarantine are allowed to roam the streets freely."

James Taranto at OpinionJournal.com discusses what "imminent threat" should mean. Not to be confused with what it legally means.