I would argue that we need a more nuanced discussion about mental illness than tends to happen in these circumstances. The narrative currently seems to be whenever someone does something wrong that seems “abnormal", people either go “they were mentally ill and thus should face no consequences" or “they should face consequences and be held accountable thus they weren’t mentally ill. Real mentally ill people are innocent victims who are always being stigmatised".
Someone can be both mentally ill AND malicious. Someone can be mentally ill AND a bigot. Someone can be mentally ill AND abusive. The line between “what part of their actions was caused by the mental illness and what part of their actions were caused by their bad attitudes and beliefs" is very blurred. Both factors influence each other.
The idea that someone’s actions in a situation can be tied to a single cause in their psyche is most of the time entirely too simplistic. So the Karen’s behaviour could be caused by BOTH her mental state and her bigoted entitled attitude and both things also exacerbate each other.
It’s a fallacy to say “because a person with a mental illness did a bad thing that was influenced by their mental illness, thus everyone with a mental illness will do bad things". It’s also a fallacy to say “because many people with mental illnesses don’t do bad things and are more often victims of crime, thus anyone who committed a violent act mustn’t have been influenced by a mental illness and instead by some nebulous “evil" that distinguishes them from the “good" and “real" mentally ill people".
People say this about abusive childhoods too. “I was abused and never became violent, therefore saying that someone else’s abusive experiences affected their mental state and influenced their violent actions is a lie and one that stigmatised abuse victims". That’s a fallacy. People are complex. People’s brains are affected by abuse differently. People’s environments are never identical with another person’s. People are affected by drugs, mental illness and trauma differently. All these things affect how they behave in certain circumstances.
It’s not to say there should be no consequences but there should also be an understanding of the individual circumstances a person has so that the consequences are tailored to what will both protect society and heal victims while giving the best opportunity for rehabilitation to the offender.
