October 1, 2017 WHEN ‘NOT GUILTY’ IS A LIFE SENTENCE W H A T H A P P E N S A F T E R A D E F E N D A N T I S F O U N D N O T G U I L T Y B Y R E A S O N O F I N S A N I T Y ? O F T E N T H E A N S W E R I S C O N F I N E M E N T I N A S T A T E P S Y C H I A T R I C H O S P I T A L W I T H N O E N D I N S I G H T . B Y M A C M C C L E L L A N D COMFORT JUST GOT A MAKEOVER Our tradition of comfort goes back 85 years. And now we start a new tradition: creating the world’s most comfortable shoes for women. Free shipping and returns. Order online or call 844.482.4800. BLACK YELLOW MAGENTA CYAN NYTM_17_1001_SWD2.pgs 09.20.2017 15:53 October 1, 2017 First Words Attention Deficit Why bother with arguments when you can By Carina Chocano 11 dismiss the other point of view? The new rule is: The thing I care about is important. The thing you care about is a ‘‘distraction.’’ On Medicine Plumbers and Poisoners What we learn when two killers, By Siddhartha Mukherjee 14 heart disease and cancer, collide and reveal a common root. The Ethicist Herd Immunity Should you spread the word about an By Kwame Anthony Appiah 18 unvaccinated child? 1100 2600 2400 Diagnosis Age Not a Factor She was 94, and all signs pointed to a By Lisa Sanders, M.D. 20 stroke. But when tests came back negative, the doctors had to explore more unusual possibilities. Letter of ‘Shark Tank’ Trickle-down economics that works, By Jaime Lowe 24 Recommendation at least on TV. Eat The Taste of Regret How you should — and should not — By Samin Nosrat 26 cook with garlic. Talk Franklin Leonard The founder of ‘‘The Black List’’ wants Interview by Ana Marie Cox 62 to diversify the box office. Behind the Cover Gail Bichler, design director: ‘‘Th is week’s cover story looks at what 6 Contributors 25 Tip happens when someone is found ‘not guilty by reason of insanity.’ Th e mentally ill who are 7 The Thread 58 Puzzles acquitted of a crime may spend more time involuntarily confi ned than those convicted. 13 New Sentences 60 Puzzles Hugo Alonso’s image of the closed door to a psychiatric ward evokes the weight of realizing 17 Poem (Puzzle answers on Page 54) you may walk through the hospital doors and never come out.’’ Artwork by Hugo Alonso. 18 Judge John Hodgman Continued on Page 4 3 October 1, 2017 28 The Angler John McPhee’s radical structures. By Sam Anderson ‘They’ll Be Here Till What happens after a defendant is found not guilty by reason By Mac McClelland 34 They Die’ of insanity? Often the answer is involuntary confinement in a state psychiatric hospital — with no sure way of getting out. Beyond Relief Managers rarely use their closers — often the most dominant By Bruce Schoenfeld 42 pitchers in baseball — for more than a few outs at the end of the game. Is that beginning to change? How Fake News At the height of the 2016 election, exaggerated reports of By Caitlin Dickerson 46 Turned a Small Town a juvenile sex crime brought a media maelstrom to Twin Falls Upside Down — one the Idaho city still hasn’t recovered from. ‘There are a lot of people who feel like society is changing too quickly, like the community is changing too quickly.’ PAGE 46 Shoshone Falls in Twin Falls, Idaho. Photograph by Harris Mizrahi for The New York Times. York The New for Mizrahi Harris by Photograph Idaho. Falls, Twin in Shoshone Falls 4 Copyright © 2017 The New York Times Contributors Caitlin Dickerson ‘‘How Fake News Turned a Editor in Chief JAKE SILVERSTEIN Small Town Upside Down,’’ Deputy Editors JESSICA LUSTIG, Page 46 BILL WASIK Caitlin Dickerson is a national reporter for The Managing Editor ERIKA SOMMER Design Director GAIL BICHLER Times. She has covered changes in immigration Director of Photography KATHY RYAN policy and often profiles the lives of immigrants, Art Director MATT WILLEY including those without legal status. She is also Features Editor ILENA SILVERMAN a radio journalist and won a Peabody Award in Politics Editor CHARLES HOMANS 2016 for investigative reporting. This week, she Special Projects Editor CAITLIN ROPER writes about a city in Idaho convulsed by rumors Story Editors NITSUH ABEBE, surrounding a crime committed by juvenile MICHAEL BENOIST, SHEILA GLASER, refugees, which was elevated nationally as a CLAIRE GUTIERREZ, harbinger of dangers to come. ‘‘After reading LUKE MITCHELL, so many deconstructions of false narratives about DEAN ROBINSON, immigrants and refugees that influenced the WILLY STALEY, presidential election,’’ Dickerson says, ‘‘I wanted SASHA WEISS to see how those stories played out in individual Associate Editors JEANNIE CHOI, JAZMINE HUGHES Photographed by Kathy Ryan at Th e New York Times people’s lives, especially for those who were targeted. Chief National Correspondent MARK LEIBOVICH on Sept. 17, 2017, at 5:06 p.m. It turns out, they were horrifying.’’ Staff Writers SAM ANDERSON, EMILY BAZELON, Sam Anderson ‘‘Th e Angler,’’ Sam Anderson is a staff writer for the magazine. SUSAN DOMINUS, Page 28 He writes the magazine’s New Sentences column. MAUREEN DOWD, He last wrote about the marble quarries in NIKOLE HANNAH-JONES, northern Italy. JONATHAN MAHLER, WESLEY MORRIS, JENNA WORTHAM Mac McClelland ‘‘ ‘Th ey’ll Be Here Mac McClelland is a three-time National Magazine Writers at Large TAFFY BRODESSER-AKNER, Till Th ey Die,’ ’’ Award finalist and the author of “Irritable Page 34 C. J. CHIVERS, Hearts: A PTSD Love Story.” She last wrote for the PAMELA COLLOFF, magazine about the pop star Azis. NICHOLAS CONFESSORE, JIM RUTENBERG Siddhartha On Medicine, Siddhartha Mukherjee is a cancer physician and David Carr Fellow JOHN HERRMAN Mukherjee Page 14 scientist at Columbia University. His most recent Deputy Art Director BEN GRANDGENETT Digital Art Director RODRIGO DE BENITO SANZ book is “The Gene: An Intimate History.” This is his Special Projects Art Director DEB BISHOP debut On Medicine column. Deputy Photo Editor JESSICA DIMSON Associate Photo Editors STACEY BAKER, Bruce Schoenfeld ‘‘Beyond Relief,’’ Bruce Schoenfeld is a frequent contributor to the AMY KELLNER, Page 42 magazine and has covered baseball since CHRISTINE WALSH the early 1980s. He last wrote about a new tool Virtual Reality Editor JENNA PIROG to measure a player’s defensive contribution. Copy Chief ROB HOERBURGER Copy Editors HARVEY DICKSON, DANIEL FROMSON, Dear Reader: What If You Could MARGARET PREBULA, ANDREW WILLETT See Everyone Naked? Head of Research NANDI RODRIGO Research Editors ROBERT LIGUORI, Every week the magazine publishes the RENÉE MICHAEL, results of a study conducted online in June LIA MILLER, by The New York Times’s research-and STEVEN STERN, MARK VAN DE WALLE analytics department, refl ecting the opinions Production Chief ANICK PLEVEN 21% 30% 49% of 2,903 subscribers who chose to participate. Yes Maybe No Production Editors PATTY RUSH, This week’s question: If you could, would you HILARY SHANAHAN use X-ray specs? Editorial Assistant LIZ GERECITANO BRINN Publisher: ANDY WRIGHT Advertising Directors: MARIA ELIASON (Luxury and Retail) ⬤ MICHAEL GILBRIDE (Fashion, Luxury, Beauty and Home) ⬤ SHARI KAPLAN (Live Entertainment and Books) ⬤ NANCY KARPF (Fine Arts and Education) ⬤ MAGGIE KISELICK (Automotive, Technology and Telecom) ⬤ SCOTT M. KUNZ (International Fashion) ⬤ JOHN RIGGIO (Recruitment) ⬤ JOSH SCHANEN (Media, Studios and Travel) ⬤ ROBERT SCUDDER (Advocacy) ⬤ SARAH THORPE (Corporate, Health Care, Liquor and Packaged Goods) ⬤ BRENDAN WALSH (Finance and Real Estate) National Sales Office Advertising Directors: KYLE AMICK (Atlanta/Southeast) ⬤ LAUREN FUNKE (Florida/Southeast) ⬤ MAGGIE KISELICK (Detroit) ⬤ CHRISTOPHER REAM (Los Angeles/San Francisco/Northwest) ⬤ JIMMY SAUNDERS (Chicago/Midwest) ⬤ ROBERT SCUDDER (Boston/Northeast/Washington) ⬤ KAREN FARINA (Magazine Director) ⬤ MARILYN MCCAULEY (Managing Director, Specialty Printing) ⬤ THOMAS GILLESPIE (Manager, Magazine Layout). To advertise, email [email protected]. 6 10.1.17 The Thread Readers respond to the 9.17.2017 issue. and surgery. Sometimes, at 70, I exert rational control — except when I suc- RE: RT cumb. It’s no diff erent from the obses- Jim Rutenberg wrote about the new infor- sion with certain forms of exercise: Yes, mation war waged by Russia’s state-run they help in many ways, and more than media network. cosmetics, but an 85-year-old who is in good shape is still in no way a 25-, 45- or Jim Rutenberg’s seeming difficulty even 65-year-old in appearance. THE STORY, in conveying the essence of this story ON TWITTER The siren lure that once belonged to shows how tangled are the thickets of promises of weight loss with the right modern communication. When trust- The Cold War system has been transferred to anti-aging has never really gone ed sources of ‘‘truth’’ are undermined away, has it? beauty products for a certain set. None by intentionally placed untruths, and @RJMourinha of us want to disappear in plain sight, when ‘‘news’’ is purveyed by every Face- and we know that like it or not, more book poster, tweeter and tiny website, attractive (and generally younger) peo- it becomes very hard in the short term if there wasn’t already an audience for it.’’ ple are treated better. So while I know to fi nd truthful news accounts.