This discussion just proves my point – we aren’t really sure how the Sanhedrin handled this sort of case on a practical basis. Instead of inflaming our already worked-up imaginations, let’s get real about this.
1) Our children are at risk, so we have to do more to protect them. How? Go read Rabbi Yaakov Horowitz’s site. If you have more suggestions, tell people about them.
2) According to many accounts, the killer is definitely “strange.” His lawyer claimed at the arraignment that he hears voices and has hallucinations. That’s pretty consistent with paranoid schizophrenia. If he is schizophrenic, why wasn’t he receiving treatment? Most cases of schizophrenia do well with drug treatment, and most people with schizophrenia aren’t dangerous even without treatment. In any case, if he’s mentally ill – by the medical definition, not talkback rant – then he should be under a doctor’s care. Why isn’t he? Is it the family feeling stigma? Can the frum community change its reactions to this type of problem so that people aren’t afraid to reach out for healp?
3) We were very enthusiastic to support a Jewish killer when the person he killed wasn’t Jewish and the crime was done somewhere else. Perhaps now we should rethink our approach to how we look at this issue.
This whole tragedy gives us many things to think about. Let’s do it seriously, and not just relieve our feelings by ranting about how much we want to kill the criminal.