Require a Clear Criminal Verdict: Guilty or Not Guilty

We, the undersigned, respectfully petition the Texas Legislature to reform Texas criminal law by eliminating “Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity” as a separate criminal verdict.

When a person is accused of a crime, the criminal justice system should provide a clear determination of criminal responsibility:

GUILTY — the State proved the defendant committed the offense beyond a reasonable doubt.

NOT GUILTY — the State did not prove the offense beyond a reasonable doubt.

We believe there should not be a third criminal verdict that establishes that a defendant committed the criminal act while simultaneously declaring the defendant not guilty because of an insanity defense.

This petition is NOT about denying mental-health treatment.

We recognize that serious mental illness is real and that people experiencing mental illness may require evaluation, hospitalization, treatment, supervision, and ongoing care.

We support maintaining appropriate protections for defendants who are incompetent to stand trial and maintaining access to necessary mental-health treatment.

However, mental-health treatment and criminal responsibility are separate issues.

A person can be mentally ill and still be criminally responsible for an offense.

We believe Texas should address mental-health needs through appropriate medical, competency, sentencing, and treatment mechanisms rather than through a separate criminal verdict of “Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity.”

We ask the Texas Legislature to:

Eliminate “Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity” as a separate criminal verdict.
Establish Guilty or Not Guilty as the criminal verdicts.
Preserve competency-to-stand-trial protections.
Preserve appropriate mental-health evaluation and treatment.
Allow mental-health conditions to be considered where otherwise permitted by law.
Protect victims, families, and the public while preserving the constitutional rights of defendants.
Why this matters

Victims and families deserve a clear determination of criminal responsibility.

Mental illness should not mean that someone is denied treatment.

But treatment should not necessarily mean that criminal responsibility disappears.

Texas can protect people with mental illness while also recognizing accountability for criminal conduct.

We respectfully ask our elected representatives to listen to Texans who support this reform and work toward legislation that separates criminal responsibility from mental-health treatment.

OUR REQUEST

We ask the Texas Legislature to eliminate “Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity” as a separate criminal verdict and establish a two-verdict system:

GUILTY OR NOT GUILTY.

Mental illness can be treated.
Competency can be protected.
Victims can be heard.
Public safety can be protected.
And criminal responsibility can remain clear.