Criminal Negligence at Virginia Tech by Henry Mark Holzer

"While South Korean 23-year-old mass murderer Cho Seung-hui goes into the record books, people are asking themselves who could have done what to prevent the slaughter of 32 innocent victims.
There is no need to detail here how many people at Virginia Tech and elsewhere knew that the future killer was deeply disturbed, probably even psychotic: teachers, classmates, staff, administrators, police, family, campus cops.
But some people, like some of those I dined with last night, wonder “what could have been done?” After all, “Cho hadn’t done anything.”
Let’s take a look at Title 37.2 of Virginia’s “Mental Health, Mental Retardation, and Substance Abuse Services” law, Subtitle III “Admissions and Dispositions,” Chapter 8 “Emergency Custody and Voluntary and Involuntary Civil Admissions,” Section 37.2-808 “Emergency custody; issuance and execution of order,” and a few other sections.
The statute appears below. The italics are mine."

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