Learning About The Lindsay Clancy Case ...

 

... because I know very little about it. 

All I know is that she had a verified psychotic break during postpartum depression and killed her children, then jumped out a second-story window and is now paralyzed from the waist down - and that many women have rallied around her and wanted her acquitted - and that the judge declared a mistrial after just one juror refused to acquit her.

Thus, I'm gonna write my initial thoughts before watching this 20/20 episode on it to see what I'm missing, then update it when I finish it later.

(I have to watch these things in piecemeal because I have other things to do!) 

To be bluntly honest, without knowing those details, if I had a psychotic break and killed my children, no need for people to rally around me this way or that way - I would want the freaking death penalty myself after I came out of it and realized what I'd done, and 

if nothing else, jail me or criminally institutionalize me for life.

Yes, it's due to brain chemistry run amuck, and yet I would still want to be found guilty/criminally institutionalized because of the potential danger of homicidal psychotic episodes. 

That does NOT mean I don't feel sorry for her or women who suffer from post-partum psychosis -  I actually knew personally someone who suffered from postpartum psychosis - just as I feel sorry for schizophrenics, male OR female.

Though I'm prone to depression, I went back on an SSRI literally an hour after I gave birth to prevent any postpartum issues, thank goodness.

However, in the case of a personal friend, she was initially catatonically depressed, then started imagining her baby was shrinking, and later, when she did start to have intrusive thoughts of harming her baby "for its own safety," she knew this wasn't normal - and immediately drove herself to the ER and was hospitalized and didn't get out until she was properly medicated and evaluated every few days for a year afterwards to ensure safety. 

This was even back in the 90s, when the depth of postpartum depression and psychosis were just coming to light - and she otherwise was, and still is, an incredibly kind, empathetic, nurturing person who loves her child without question. 

It didn't fit the person she was at all - that's the power of hormone drop after childbirth and brain chemistry - and yet if you actually act on those things, then should you be shielded from consequence?

Because even when a schizophrenic has a true violent psychotic episode resulting in harm or homicide -  which is uncommon, either for postpartum psychosis OR schizophrenia - they still receive consequences - if nothing else but criminally institutionalized, right?

I also worry about the precedent it would set to acquit her completely without consequence - how many other women will just claim postpartum depression/psychosis as an excuse to just do dastardly things they'd likely do anyway, right?

Most importantly, I'm not trynna be a bad old-school feminist when I say this -  but the thing that bothers me - again, without knowing any of the details - is the degree of framing of Lindsay as a victim, almost overshadowing the brutal murders of 3 innocent children, the actual victims -  which should NOT happen under any circumstances.

I mean, I get that she's potentially a victim of her own brain chemistry or psychiatric treatment failure, and that's very, very sad - but we should never, ever lose sight of the fact that the actual victims, here, are those 3 children. 

Let's see what I think, though, after watching the details.

However, I have to watch it in piecemeal do to other things, so more later ...