Lindsay Clancy killed her children during a postpartum psychosis breakdown. She then tried to kill herself by jumping out a window which only paralyzed her from the waist down. This is horrible. A nightmare really.

For some reason, people are arguing about it. Some say she should be found non-guilty by reason of insanity; others saying she deserves prison or worse. The vehemence is puzzling. Clancy was in a troubling state prior to killing her children. She also did strangle them. What does justice look like here? Should she suffer in a prison for the rest of her life or should she be free to suffer a free woman in her own home.

The guilty crowd bother me because they are focused on punishing Clancy which seems pointless. Her children are dead. She is paralyzed. Her marriage is over. Everybody in the world knows she is a child killer. Her life is ruined. I guess putting her in prison would make her life just a little bit more miserable. So there is that but all and all any further punishment seems like a waste of time.

The not guilty crowd are focused on the madness of a mother who should have been helped before breaking down and killing her children. Sympathy for a woman suffering under such duress is understandable but it doesn’t change the woman’s actions. Murderers get stiff penalties for their actions. So why not Clancy?

The argument that this could be any woman in postpartum depression is a bit of an overreach. Very few women actually murder their children while in postpartum depression. Clancy is an aberration. So, while postpartum depression affects many woman, it rarely results in the mother killing her children.

On the other hand, not guilty by reason of insanity is, understandably, a difficult sentence to accept. The killer still did the killing. The victims are still dead. She should have to pay for what she did. And, if not Clancy herself someone should? But who? Clancy’s husband? Mental Health Professionals?

The problem is the need to pin the crime on someone. If this person had only done what they were supposed to do, these horrible killings wouldn’t have happened. Some rational behavior on someone’s part would have saved those children. If only that were true.

This need for justice to put the world back into rational order is impossible here. I believe Clancy was a deeply troubled woman who broke down and killed her children. There is absolutely nothing we can do to make sense of her actions or bring justice for her children.

I can live with her going to prison or remaining a free woman. Either way, we left with a difficult problem. Dangerous crazy people. How do we stop them before they act and we are doing absolutely nothing to help the insane or protect their innocent victims. Nothing except waiting for it to happen.