Yeah, it has been a steady process, eliminating the insanity defense, and allegedly making the mentally ill more accountable for their actions. And it has nothing to do with public safety, per se. It is supposedly about about accountability, period.
As I said, other posters alluded to the Hinckley case, and how it supposedly sparked public outrage.
Another important step, in this gradual evolution to “cutting them less slack” (as I put in my OP, of course) was the 1994 Supreme Court ruling that said the Constitution gave no protection, in this regard (i.e., the insanity defense). Here is an interesting article on the matter. Google searches would probably bring up more detailed stuff on it, of course.
The SCOTUS was very ignorant, in their judgement I think. But that would be better said in the Great Debates section. So I will withdraw the observation, and offer this cite as simple factual proof of the gradual decline of mentally ill rights, in our judicial system.
In the Netherlands either the judge or the defendant can ask for psychiatric evaluation. This evaluation takes place in a clinic and can take 7 weeks. This can lead the judge to conclude that the defendant is “verminderd toerekeningsvatbaar”, which can roughly be translated as “less accountable” or “less criminally responsible”. Usually, the defendant would still be sentenced to a prison term as punishment, but also given treatment. This is called “terbeschikingstellen” (TBS) and can roughly be translated as “made available to the state”.
TBS has no fixed term as it depends on someone getting better. It is possible to extend the term up to a maximum of two years at a time. Six years is usually considered long, and the patient would then be sent to a different facility to try the care there. Sometimes it might happen that a patient is not safe to return to society, but they have been punished sufficiently and treatments aren’t working. Those people are called “longstay patients”. There are currently about 60 longstay patients in the Netherlands. There is some discussion regarding what to do with them.
Sometimes a defendant will refuse to cooperate with the initial psychiatric evaluation, as TBS can be extended indefinitely. If you think you are super crazy but your crime doesn’t carry a long sentence it might be better not to cooperate. Of course, the judge might still send you to TBS, so there’s that. And TBS might actually work and make your life better, so there’s that.
You take your chances when you avoid the trial and plead insanity.
You can hope for a shorter time in an institution, but you might end up being there longer.
You can hope for a nicer place, but actually be in a worse place.
Around here, the criminally insane (violent presumably) are at the same jails as the violent criminals, maximum security, so its not any nicer. They don’t bother with isolation though, of course the insane just get worse in isolation. Of course if you were a criminal prisoner sentenced to years or life, and then found to be mentally ill, you get to the same ward … But they can’t hold you indefinitely.
If you had some sort of disease with a known cure, such as STD or depression induced psychosis (eg depression on top of schizophrenia or similar ), then perhaps you can get out earlier by going the mentally ill route.
But if they cannot be sure if you are cured, you can be in the mental institution for life…
The cure thing has not worked so well in the past . Someone who was mentally ill due to drugs and drove totally crazily and killed people, was said to be cured when he was weaned off the drugs… let out… Whereas someone who only helped their father , or older brother, in a serious crime, as teenagers, one I know is mentally ill and acted as a 15 year old… and another was a 17 years and sentenced for life in jail, to be held until they die, never to be released … Both seem to assume they can’t be said to be cured, their disease being genetic… My point is that the older relative was the ring leader, surely the younger was somewhat forced to help in the crime, because the elder relative may well turn on them if they didn’t help! And anyway the older relative was brainwashing them…