Guiding Questions

• Can justice exist without understanding the mind?

• Who has the power to define “sanity”?

• Should people with mental illness be punished, protected — or both?

Madness or Misunderstood?

Mental illness has long been feared, judged, and misunderstood.

In many legal systems, it raises deep dilemmas:

• Can a person be held responsible for their actions if they were mentally unstable?

• Should someone be institutionalized “for their own safety”?

• Is it just to force treatment on those who refuse it?

These questions blur the line between protection and control, care and punishment.

The Insanity Defense: Justice or Loophole?

In rare cases, individuals accused of serious crimes plead not guilty by reason of insanity.

This does not mean they are set free.

They are usually committed to psychiatric institutions — sometimes for longer than a prison term.

But critics ask:

• Is it fair? Or an excuse?

• Who decides what counts as “insane”?

• What if mental illness is invisible — like depression or PTSD?

Systemic Injustice

In reality:

• Many people with mental illness are imprisoned instead of treated

• Prisons have become de facto psychiatric hospitals

• Police officers are often the first responders to mental health crises

• People with mental illness are more likely to face violence — and less likely to receive justice

If justice is blind, is it also deaf to suffering?

Philosophical Perspectives

Michel Foucault

Argued that psychiatry can be a tool of social control — labeling nonconformists as “mad” and removing them from society.

Aristotle

Believed in moderation and reason. But what happens when reason itself is impaired?

John Rawls

Justice should protect the least advantaged. If people with mental illness are among the most vulnerable, what does society owe them?

Søren Kierkegaard

Saw despair as a condition of the human soul. Is suffering a medical problem — or a spiritual one?

Two Perspectives

Responsibility Requires Sanity

If someone cannot tell right from wrong, they should not be punished like others.

Justice Requires Equality Before Law

Mental illness shouldn’t excuse harm or erase accountability — justice must apply to all.

A Thought Experiment

Imagine a man with schizophrenia hears voices commanding him to steal food.

He does — and is arrested.

Should he go to jail?

A hospital?

Neither?

Who decides?

Toward Mental Health Justice

• Crisis response by mental health professionals, not police

• Community-based treatment instead of incarceration

• Strong legal protections for involuntary hospitalization

• Trauma-informed courts and sentencing

• Public education to reduce stigma

• Recognizing mental illness as a social — not just medical — challenge

Reflect and Discuss

• Should someone be forced into treatment “for their own good”?

• Can a mentally ill person commit a truly just or unjust act?

• What kind of system would you want if you — or someone you love — became mentally ill?

Suggested Readings

• Michel Foucault – Madness and Civilization

• Elyn Saks – The Center Cannot Hold

• Pete Earley – Crazy: A Father’s Search Through America’s Mental Health Madness

• U.S. Supreme Court – Ford v. Wainwright (mental illness and the death penalty)

• National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) – Mental Health & Criminal Justice resources