# John Hinckley should be set free **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 19, 2003, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-hinckley-should-be-set-free/214007 "2003-11-19T00:43:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![zuma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9c0ed/32.png) [@zuma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zuma)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2003, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-hinckley-should-be-set-free/214007/21 "2003-11-19T14:31:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by crazy grady \* > \*\*The sickest thing to me about John Hinckley was (or is) infatuated with Jodie Foster. Jodie Foster. Supposedly in the hospital, he still had pictures of her. Jodie Foster. > > Anybody who finds Jodie Foster the object of sexual lust and desire is already deranged, much less shooting Reagan over it. > > GRADY \*\* Well, color me deranged. I’ve always found her hot, since she was about 10 and I was about 8. ---
**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2003, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-hinckley-should-be-set-free/214007/22 "2003-11-19T14:39:25Z")
First off, Hinckley is never going anywhere unsupervised for the rest of his life. There will always be a Secret Service detachment watching every move he makes. That, however, shouldn’t be a consideration in evaluating his readiness for release. If he really is cured then I say set him free. The problem is the journal entries that say “I could fool these guys. They don’t know what they’re doing, blah, blah, blah.” His doctors maintain that with an IQ of 113, he theoretically shouldn’t be able to fool them. I personally don’t think that there is enough correlation between IQ and the ability to manipulate/assess the sincerity of others to warrant such a claim. If he has fooled his doctors before then you have to assume that he could fool them again. ---
**Author:** ![vanilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f19dbf/32.png) [@vanilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vanilla)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2003, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-hinckley-should-be-set-free/214007/23 "2003-11-19T15:51:35Z")
CAN people ever be cured of mental illnesses? ---
**Author:** ![ccwaterback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2003, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-hinckley-should-be-set-free/214007/24 "2003-11-19T16:10:21Z")
I guess this is what I don’t understand: > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by KidCharlemagne \* > \*\*If he really is cured then I say set him free. \*\* The guy is in prison for shooting the President, not in a hospital because he had a bad cold. Or is this the scenario? “Hi, I’m John Hinckley. I got crazy once and shot the President because I wanted to impress a young actress. But I’m all better now.” That doesn’t sound ludicrous to you? ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2003, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-hinckley-should-be-set-free/214007/25 "2003-11-19T17:03:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ccwaterback \* > \*\*That doesn’t sound ludicrous to you? \*\* No, it doesn’t sound ludicrous. You’re just completely oblivious to the entire concept of the insanity defense, aren’t you? There can be, and is, a perfectly valid debate about whether the man is cured or not. If he is eventually found to be cured, he gets to walk, and there is not a damn thing wrong with that. Here is some extra credit [reading material](http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/hinckley/hinckleytrial.html) about the trial. And I would like to second **Lissa** ’s comment that if he had simply been convicted of attempted murder, there is a very good chance that he would already be out. He would likely still be crazy, and the years in prison would likely have accentuated that. Which would you prefer? ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2003, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-hinckley-should-be-set-free/214007/26 "2003-11-19T17:37:00Z")
In March of 1987, Hinckely requested unsupervised leave from the hospital. St. Elizabeths’ doctors agreed, saying, as they are now, that Mr. Hinckley was ready. Not only did Mr. Hinckley show remorse, said the doctors, but he was aware that his earlier fixation on Jodie Foster was “ridiculous” and that she no longer was part of his “sexual or psychic life.” A serach of his room, however, after the Manson pen-pal revelation, found twenty-some photographs of Jodie Foster hidden away, and the Secret Service received a letter from a mail-order house saying it had received a letter from John requesting a nude drawing of Jodie Foster. Since all such photos and drawings had been confiscated after his initial hospitalization, this was a disturbing discovery, and pretty strong evidence the doctors had been hoodwinked. So my question now would be… docs, you were fooled once. What’s the distinction between then and now; why are you sure that this time, you’re right? - Rick ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2003, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-hinckley-should-be-set-free/214007/27 "2003-11-19T18:54:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bricker \* > \*\*So my question now would be… docs, you were fooled once. What’s the distinction between then and now; why are you sure that this time, you’re right? > > - Rick \*\* But then that begs the question; do you feel circumstances exist at all where he might be released? You can never be 100 percent sure, right? Does this mean he must be locked up forever? ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2003, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-hinckley-should-be-set-free/214007/28 "2003-11-19T19:55:10Z")
In my opinion Hinckley should never be set free, whether mentally ill, cured, or whatever. Reagan was an ass, but damn, he was the _President of the United States_. I honor the office, if not the man, and that kind of an attack is kind of like treason. Nobody should be able to say, “hey, I’m cured now” and be able to walk away scot-free. ---
**Author:** ![ccwaterback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2003, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-hinckley-should-be-set-free/214007/29 "2003-11-19T20:36:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by This Year’s Model \* > **No, it doesn’t sound ludicrous. You’re just completely oblivious to the entire concept of the insanity defense, aren’t you?** I will admit I don’t understand the intricacies of the American justice system. I’m trying to think about things from a high-level, logically, with a bent towards what is right. Not about what kind of justice can be bought in America for a high enough price tag (eg. OJ). ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2003, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-hinckley-should-be-set-free/214007/30 "2003-11-19T23:36:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Revtim \* > \*\*But then that begs the question; do you feel circumstances exist at all where he might be released? You can never be 100 percent sure, right? Does this mean he must be locked up forever? \*\* Not at all. I just want an answer to that question – I want to hear the doctors say, “Such-and-so was the mistake made last time in assessing Mr. Hinckley, and we have corrected that error.” ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2003, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-hinckley-should-be-set-free/214007/31 "2003-11-20T00:51:39Z")
Back in the 1960s, in Santa Cruz, Ca, there was a guy whose name escapes me who drove around picking up young hippie girl hitchhikers. He then did them in, and disposed of them in various creative ways, including dismemberment. He kept parts of different girls, including the head of one–he liked to have conversations with it, late at night. He was found out after neighbors complained of a horrible smell—his mother and a friend of hers were found in a closet, badly decomposed. This guy had done time in a mental hospital and had been declared completely cured and was then released upon an unsuspecting world—his original crime? He slaughtered his grandparents when he was fourteen years old. I think of him whenever I hear someone say that John Hinkley is “cured” and that he represents no threat to anyone, since that is precisely what was said about the guy I’m talking about. I do wish I remembered his name, so I could dig up some cites. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2003, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-hinckley-should-be-set-free/214007/32 "2003-11-20T01:08:25Z")
Henry Lee Lucas, maybe? Try [www.crimelibrary.com](http://www.crimelibrary.com) ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2003, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-hinckley-should-be-set-free/214007/33 "2003-11-20T01:19:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Reuben \* > \*\*Jodie’s “quite attractive”? > > “_Quite_ attractive” !?! > \*\* Hey, keep in mind that at the time, Jodie Foster _might_ have been attractive [sub]in 1982 IIRC[/sub]. You never know! [sub]What the hell do I know? I was 5 at the time. I was more worried about Voltron.[/sub]. Tripler Hey, that was then. This is now. ---
**Author:** ![crazy\_grady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dbc845/32.png) [@crazy\_grady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crazy_grady)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2003, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-hinckley-should-be-set-free/214007/34 "2003-11-20T01:23:28Z")
To Louis B, The guy’s name was Edmund Kemper and he was a patient/inmate at the Atasacadero hospital. He was (is) 6 foot 9 inches tall. He fooled the hospital that he was sane. GRady ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2003, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-hinckley-should-be-set-free/214007/35 "2003-11-20T01:38:12Z")
**crazy grady** , that’s the guy. Thanks for the name. ---
**Author:** ![G-RAY](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d9b06d/32.png) [@G-RAY](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G-RAY)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2003, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-hinckley-should-be-set-free/214007/36 "2003-11-20T05:14:07Z")
I can’t believe that none of you people know the truth about what happened on that day in 1981. John Hinkley succeded in his attempt to kill Reagan. Reagan died before his limo reached the hospital. A secret agreement was reached between Al Haig, Nancy Reagan and George Shultz. James Brady refused to go along with it so Al, in a fit of anger, shot him in the head. They complted his two terms in office with clips from his old movies and some “Weekend at Bernie’s” type of puppetry. If you watched closesly Nancy never drank a glass of water while Ron was talking. George Bush the elder did’nt become aware of the ruse untill January of 89 but that is understandable because their relationship had always been kind of stiff. That Alzhimers dodge is just a way to keep him out of the spotlight untill everyone who would come forward can die off or be discredited. ---
**Author:** ![G-RAY](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d9b06d/32.png) [@G-RAY](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G-RAY)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2003, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-hinckley-should-be-set-free/214007/37 "2003-11-20T05:20:15Z")
I can’t believe that none of you people know the truth about what happened on that day in 1981. John Hinkley succeded in his attempt to kill Reagan. Reagan died before his limo reached the hospital. A secret agreement was reached between Al Haig, Nancy Reagan and George Shultz. James Brady refused to go along with it so Al, in a fit of anger, shot him in the head. They complted his two terms in office with clips from his old movies and some “Weekend at Bernie’s” type of puppetry. If you watched closesly Nancy never drank a glass of water while Ron was talking. George Bush the elder did’nt become aware of the ruse untill January of 89 but that is understandable because their relationship had always been kind of stiff. That Alzhimers dodge is just a way to keep him out of the spotlight untill everyone who would come forward can die off or be discredited. ---
**Author:** ![G-RAY](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d9b06d/32.png) [@G-RAY](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G-RAY)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2003, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-hinckley-should-be-set-free/214007/38 "2003-11-20T05:28:13Z")
I can’t believe that none of you people know the truth about what happened on that day in 1981. John Hinkley succeded in his attempt to kill Reagan. Reagan died before his limo reached the hospital. A secret agreement was reached between Al Haig, Nancy Reagan and George Shultz. James Brady refused to go along with it so Al, in a fit of anger, shot him in the head. They complted his two terms in office with clips from his old movies and some “Weekend at Bernie’s” type of puppetry. If you watched closesly Nancy never drank a glass of water while Ron was talking. George Bush the elder did’nt become aware of the ruse untill January of 89 but that is understandable because their relationship had always been kind of stiff. That Alzhimers dodge is just a way to keep him out of the spotlight untill everyone who would come forward can die off or be discredited. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2003, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-hinckley-should-be-set-free/214007/39 "2003-11-21T00:03:09Z")
Tell that story often enough, **G-RAY** , and somebodys bound to believe it. * * * She told me she loved me like a brother. She was from Arkansas, hence the Joy! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f8ce5/32.png) [@The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Peyote_Coyote)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2003, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-hinckley-should-be-set-free/214007/40 "2003-11-21T00:33:42Z")
It should be pointed out that not only did he shoot Reagan, but he shot 2-3 other people including a cop and a Secret Service agent who were simply trying to do their jobs. I’m with Baker; leave the sonofabitch in there. And I voted for Mondale. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-hinckley-should-be-set-free/214007.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-hinckley-should-be-set-free/214007.md?page=3)