What Should We Learn From Cho Seung-Hui?

Question by Michelle B: What should we learn from Cho Seung-Hui?

Best answer:

Answer by karl
Main lesson: under VA law an outpatient psychopath is fully allowed to purchase guns, no problem.

recap:

According to Cho’s grandfather, during childhood Cho never looked up to him to make eye contact, never called him grandfather, and never moved to embrace him.

Cho’s maternal great-aunt described Cho as “cold” and a cause of family concern from as young as eight years old. Cho was extremely shy and “just would not talk at all.”

By eighth grade Chi had been diagnosed with selective mutism, a social anxiety disorder which inhibited him from speaking.

During the spring of Cho’s eighth grade year, the Columbine massacre made news. Cho was transfixed by it and wrote in a school assignment about wanting to “repeat Columbine”. Cho was sent to a psychiatrist. His parents sought treatment for him through medication and therapy.

In high school, Cho was placed in special education under the ’emotional disturbance’ classification. He continued receiving mental health therapy as well until his junior year, when Cho rejected further therapy.

Forbidden by federal law to disclose, without Cho’s permission, any record of disability or treatment, none of Cho’s anxiety-related problems was disclosed to Virginia Tech

Professor Nikki Giovanni, who taught Cho in a poetry class, had him removed from her class because she found his behavior “menacing” and his writing “intimidating.” Cho had intimidated female students by photographing their legs under their desks and by writing obscene, violent poetry. The student affairs office, the dean’s office, and the campus police were all alerted, but each responded that there was nothing they could do if Cho made no overt threats against himself or others.

Cho was involved in at least three stalking incidents, two of which resulted in verbal warnings by the Virginia Tech campus police.

Judge Barnett ordered Cho to undergo mental health treatment on an outpatient basis, with a directive for the “court-ordered [outpatient] to follow all recommended treatments.” Since Cho underwent only a minimal psychiatric assessment, the true diagnosis for Cho’s mental health status remains unknown.

Because Cho was not involuntarily committed to a mental health facility as an inpatient, he was still legally eligible to buy guns under Virginia law.

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Tags: selective mutism, mental health, mental health facility, treatment program, mental health program, social anxiety