On June 8, 1981,  John Hinckley tried to assassinate President Ronald Regan. This would lead to Hinckely’s trial in 1982, where he was found “not guilty by reason of insanity” (NGRI). This case would help revolutionize the legal world and put the Insanity Defense Reform Act of 1984 into effect, which would make it more challenging to plead NGRI. 

Since the implementation of the Insanity Defense Reform Act, mental health has raised many questions in the legal space. Notably, in a 2020 study, The impact of mental health diagnoses on perceptions of risk of criminality, researchers found how those with mental illness are often perceived to be at a higher risk for criminality. Highly stigmatized mental illnesses such as schizophrenia and substance abuse get coupled with crimes often, as these individuals are considered “violent.” Substance abuse, more specifically Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD), affects almost 29 million Americans. 

Is this to say each of these 29 million individuals are likely to commit crime? Sadly, the average layperson might be inclined to say “yes”. 

In a 2003 study (Edens et al., 2003), there was an effort to understand what laypeople’s definition of “insanity” truly is. A group of students were given an article containing an individual with stereotypical psychotic traits such as remorselessness and arrogance and another group was given an article with non- psychotic traits such as respect for others and showing remorse. The study revealed that the group exposed to the psychotic traits article were more likely to have negative perceptions of the defendant, therefore assuming they are more likely to commit crime and, if put in a jurors place, would be led towards a guilty verdict. Cases such as Hinckley’s and Jefferry Dahmer’s are what laypeople and jurors often associate with legal insanity, which can be a very harmful misconception.  

The infamous Jefferry Dahmer case is a striking example of a not guilty by reason of insanity (NGRI) verdict following the implementation of the Insanity Defense Reform Act. It is important to note that most cases involving NGRI verdicts are not murder cases, they typically are nonviolent crimes such as robbery. These “boring” cases, however,  are not being headlined by every news channel and having documentaries dedicated to them, such as Dahmer’s case. ​​

Yet, Dahmer is the one case out of the 59.3 million Americans today that suffer from all kinds of mental illnesses. He happens to have done criminally insane acts, yet he does not speak for everyone else with mental illness.

Many shows, whether fictional or a reenactment of a certain criminal’s life, often depict criminals as “socio/psychopathic”. Film/shows such as Dahmer- Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story and My Friend Dahmer are examples of this media, which contain information of Dahmer’s childhood and how this contributed to his future “life of crime.” Though these shows/films provide interesting perspectives “into the mind of a serial killer” they are not always accurate to the real story behind these crimes and oftentimes glorify the perpetrators. As humans we love to know the “why” behind such heinous crimes. That’s why we keep going back to watch these stories, and listen. 

I’m also intrigued by them.

Yet, this is what causes stigma and will continue to unless we change how we view mental illness. Not everything that is on the internet or television is accurate or the most reliable source of information. It is important to acknowledge this when consuming your favorite TV shows. 

Rather than fear those with mental illness, it is important to encourage them to seek proper treatment and find solutions for them if they are unable to themselves. Some reforms to effectively integrate mental health and legal professionals together have been put in place. The goal of these types of reforms is to find out any risk factors an individual might have making them susceptible to criminal behavior. There are six key parts of this framework- engagement, assessment, planning and treatment, monitoring, problem-solving, and transition (Kamin et al., 2025). The most important steps of this framework are assessment and planning and treatment. The assessment ensures that psychological professionals can see an individual and give them a chance to learn about their possible- or lack there-of- diagnoses. Planning and treatment helps enact actual change- such as proper therapy programs and medication for the patient. By following these prevention techniques it can aid in preventing overall stigma by targeting specific individuals believed to possibly be at risk for criminal behavior- which doesn’t represent the overall population with MI. 

On the individual level, there is only so much that can be done to destigmatize mental illness, yet some researchers have found it helpful to practice self-compassion (Glazer et al., 2023) and how that can help prevent self stigma from manifesting, which is half the battle. As for public stigma there have been a couple initiatives dedicated to trying to destigmatize mental health- one in particular from 2014  called “I Will Listen”. “I Will Listen” worked to create a mental illness support group through all kinds of social media- Instagram, Facebook, etc. This is bittersweet in many ways as social media is attempting to de-stigmatize mental health, even though it is the cause of stigma at times. Stigma will sadly always exist- yet finding ways to regulate and properly display information, through media, to viewers will be a key way to prevent further misconceptions from occurring.