TERM PAPER JARED LEE LOUGHNER: COMPETENT OR INCOMPETENT? SUBMITTED TO PROFESSOR T. TULLY IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR CRJ 202, SECTION 007 CORRECTIONS FALL 2014 BOROUGH OF MANHATTAN COMMUNITY COLLEGE CUNY BY TIFFANY SANO NEW YORK, NEW YORK OCTOBER 20, 2014 On January 8th, 2o11, the city of Tucson, Arizona, suffered a traumatic experience. On that morning, there had been a shootout outside of a supermarket. Jared Lee Loughner, a Tucson resident, changed the lives of many people on that day. He killed 6 people, including a 9-year-old girl, and injured 13. While the judge believes that Loughner is competent, I agree too. I understand that he is a paranoid schizophrenic but this was indeed premeditated murder, so it’s hard for to go against the decision. A delusional …show more content…
Being a paranoid schizophrenic, he lost his sense, his touch with reality. He caused a scene by ranting about his actions. He strongly believed that he killed congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. In fact, he believed she died in front of him. In the courtroom, Loughner said “Thank you for the free kill. She died in front of me. Your cheesiness.” His rant got him removed from the courtroom. He also believed that all those people were evil, so he assumed that shooting them was a favor he was doing for the people of Tucson. Clearly, he isn’t mentally present so it is understandable why he was found incompetent. Pietz also studied his personal belongings such as his journal and computer entries. She deeply analyzed and noticed that he has been showing symptoms of depression since 2006. Pietz also believed that the symptoms of schizophrenia might have developed his junior year of high school. Afterwards, Burns changed his mind and believed Loughner was incompetent. Loughner’s rant in the courtroom was the cause of the judge’s sudden