Mental Illness in Court

I don’t want to use my mental illness as an excuse. As I mentioned in a previous post, I was recently arrested and charged with committing a crime. I’ve never been in trouble before and have really led a very good life. I’ve had 5 or 6 professionals tell me that they believe I was symptomatic when committing this crime and that I should go to a mental health program rather than jail.
What keeps coming to mind is all the people that are in jail right now that probably are untreated. So why should I receive special treatment because I have bipolar disorder? I almost feel guilty that these professionals have sent letters of support to the judge so he knows I have a mental illness. My attorney I know is going to bring up my mental stability at the sentencing. Is this fair?
So many people fall through the cracks in our society. I had a well paying job, lived a middle class lifestyle and I fell through the cracks. I had so much more than so many people and I never received proper treatment. I can’t imagine the number of people out there who are less fortunate that struggle each day to understand why they feel the way they do.   Resources are not available to those who are less fortunate.  Particularly in my state; we rank among the worse in the US when it comes to mental health care.  I could go on and on about the disparities in our society. I just can’t help but wonder if because of these disparities I should not receive any empathy at my sentencing based on my mental illness. Why me and not the other person? Should everyone with a mental illness receive this much attention in the legal system and have their sentence based on their mental capabilities?
Time will soon tell for me.

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