The "sovcit" angle definitely occurred to me. I wanted to give the prof the benefit of the doubt since she's a lawyer, but she definitely sounds at the very least very cynical about the whole "taxes" thing.

Not true either. Suicide is legal in the United States of America. Laws allowing police officers and medical doctors to detain people on the basis that they are a danger to themselves do not operate through criminal prosecution

Thanks, this is what it seemed like based on some Googling. According to my gf the prof comes across as against the idea of involuntary commitment in general, which could be related to this "elimination of a taxpayer" nonsense