Share Your Thoughts

We’d love to hear from you. As you read about how our legal system handles mental illness, consider the questions below and feel free to write in with your own experiences, opinions, and ideas.

1. What surprised you the most about the insanity defense or competency standards?

2. What parts of this issue would you like to learn more about?

3. In your view, what’s the biggest barrier to a fair system—political stigma, outdated legal doctrine, evidentiary limitations, or all of the above?

4. Do you think juries are equipped to evaluate psychiatric evidence? What guidance or tools would help them?

5. Who do you believe should qualify as an expert on mental illness in court—clinicians, researchers, people with lived experience, or a combination?

6. Since criminal law varies by state, should the federal government set clearer national standards for recognizing clinical insanity? Why or why not?

7. Do you think meaningful reforms in this area are politically possible? What would it take to make them happen?