Can involuntary outpatient commitment offer a path forward for Iryna’s Law?

By: Marvin Swartz, M.D., Megan Pruette, M.D.

Outlets: North Carolina Newsline

Published: January 30, 2026

Words: 670

Last Updated: 3 weeks, 2 days ago

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The recent tragic murders of Iryna Zarutska and Zoe Welsh highlight the limitations of the public mental health and public safety systems in managing persons with concurrent mental health and criminal legal problems. Two men with serious mental health conditions and criminal legal involvement committed tragic crimes that we hope could have been averted.

Despite these recent events, recall that violence by persons with mental illness is actually rare and such persons are far more …

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