Our inability to identify and treat mental illness will only mean more incidents like Sandy Hook
Jennifer Buss, PhD, Patrick Cheetham, Robert Hummel, PhD, Kathryn Schiller-Wurster, and Michael Swetnam make up the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies' Center for Revolutionary Scientific Thought. The Center develops new ideas about the future directions of science and technology, formulates strategies on how to achieve revolutionary gains in that field, provides a forum to discuss the associated political, ethical, legal, and social issues, and informs the public and policymakers to solve vital societal problems.
In December we added Adam Lanza to a long string of mentally ill young men alleged to have committed horrific acts of violence. Before him came Jared Lee Loughner. James Holmes. Anders Behring Breivik. At Virginia Tech, there was Seung-Hui Cho. The Unabomber. In 2012 there were 16 mass violence incidents where victims were indiscriminately killed in the United States. Why do these mass attack events seem to be happening with increasing frequency? What is the root cause? And what can be done?