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Come on, people, if she doesn't fit the definition of "insane" then who the hell does?
She was PSYCHOTIC when she did it...that means she has no anchor in reality. This whole "can you tell right from wrong" stuff is an overly simplistic legal mechanism based on an antiquated understanding of mental illness. I think a more appropriate question would be "were you unhinged from reality?" which she clearly was. Fine, she called the police, but that only indicates she knew it was wrong to other people; she was convinced that what she was doing was right by God. She was so distanced from reality (by her postpartum psychosis as well as an unhealthy dose of religious claptrap) that she actually thought it was better to kill the kids than to let them be tainted by continued exposure to her.
If you all who are thirsty for her blood can't find an ounce of compassion for her situation, I hope I never have to undergo trial by my "peers." If you ask me, justice has already been served on Andrea Yates - she will either die for her actions (which if you ask me would be a gross miscarriage of "justice") or have to live for the rest of her life knowing what she did. IF she ever recovers mentally, which is questionable. It doesn't matter what happens to her - she's in hell already.
Justice won't have been served in this case until the people around her who let her slip so far out of reality have taken responsibility for THEIR actions. Notice how quickly you condemn a woman who betrays your ideals of motherhood, but completely ignore the culpability of the men who saddled her with 5 kids, ignored her mental state, and poured hellfire and damnation rhetoric on her.
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"If ten million people believe a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing."
- Anatole France
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