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[sebastian_dangerfield]

Originally Posted by taxwonk

All of the above. But I think the biggest reason is that we have broken down as a community. Fifty years ago, the people in the Lanza's circle: family, neighbors, friends, would have seen signs that the boy was troubled and they woulld have shared responsibility for keeping an eye on him. If he needed constant care, then he would have been put in a hospital where he could receive that kind of attention.

The picture I drew above is seen through rose-colored glasses. There were a lot of problems, abuses, and neglect in some mental health facility. Some communities were more closed in. Birds didn't sing every morning as the sun glinted off the brightly polished hood of dad's Buick. But the fact is, there was more of a sense of a social contract. People looked after each other more.

The chain of causation there requires a dozen links you haven't offered. And I could cite the enhanced attention given to the mentally ill, most of whom were ignored in the past, to turn your assumption/theory on its ear.