TBI, lead exposure, malnutrition… gotta try to be kind.

Interesting we have more sympathy for those who impulsively, say, eat non-food items, versus lash out violently.

Something I don’t know: is there any reason to be more sympathetic to someone who self harms (say cuts themselves) than someone who harms others as a result of mental illness?

We say “died by suicide” instead of “committed suicide” to speak closer to the reality of a situation, to acknowledge how awful it is when pain exceeds resources available for coping with that pain. We necessarily view murder as abhorrent, and I won’t defend murderers at large, but I question if some percentage of those who kill were mentally ill to the point they deserve exactly equal sympathy to others who were just as ill but whose illness manifested without violence.

I think we generally underappreciated just how little separates all of us from behaving just like him, and overestimate how much of his behavior is because of choice as opposed to circumstance.

I agree 100%.

This is a description of fundamental attribution error to a T. Simplifying human beings actions into a representation of their character rather than looking at the circumstances and conditions that resulted in making the decision to begin with. We overestimate our inherent differences, in order to distance ourselves from unsavoury behaviour and boost our own self esteem.

And there is no place for profit in keeping people safe (both the offenders and society at large).

Also the circumstances you were born in affects you as a person.