Local protest against mental health profiling Monday 1/21/12 in Northampton, MA

In the days since the Newtown school shooting, the media and politicians of all stripes have used those diagnosed with mental illness as a scapegoat. On the federal level, the White House has released a plan "to reduce gun violence" that includes $55 million in funding for teachers and schools, working with law enforcement, to "detect and respond to mental illness in children and young adults"--i.e. to diagnose them with stigmatizing, and potentially criminalizing, mental illness labels, despite the fact that statistical research shows there is no significant link between mental illness and violence.