The Values That Influence Psychiatric Diagnosis and Accountability

John Z. Sadler's Vice and Psychiatric Diagnosis (Oxford University Press, 2024) explores the profound influence of moral and cultural values on the diagnoses that excuse criminal behavior. Recognizing the overlap of legal and clinical frameworks that society uses to make sense of sex, violence, and general accountability, Sadler dissects the diagnoses that contain more values than validation, exploring the divisions that result as health care and criminal legal systems struggle to manage justice-involved persons. His analysis is a response to criminalizing mental illness and using the legal system rather than rehabilitative services and diversion into treatment. The appeal for a rehabilitative model that emphasizes humanistic values is a call for criminal justice reform alongside diagnostic clarity.