ABSTRACT
Society is thus left in a period of extreme dissonance with regard to the mentally disordered offender. On the one hand, it wishes to censure him for his failure in being a criminal. Punishment of the mentally disordered, in spite of their special legal status, has long occurred both covertly and overtly. It might seem that the insanity defence is a privilege afforded to the mentally disordered that contrasts with the otherwise negative attitudes and behaviour represented by their stigmatization. Mentally disordered offenders appear to be viewed by the public as more offender than mentally disordered. Lack of statutory provision for dealing with meta-responsibility may have forced society to deal with it in more covert and sinister means. If there is a covert societal feeling that mentally disordered offenders are meta-responsible through the self-causation of mental disorder, society suffers from an inability to openly reflect a construct through the insanity defence and its disposal.
