The U.S. Supreme Court case Jackson v. Indiana, 1971 dealt with the rights of mentally ill individuals in criminal proceedings. The petitioner, Theon Jackson, was a deaf and mute man charged with two counts of robbery but was found unfit to stand trial due to his inability to understand the charges or participate in his defense. He was committed indefinitely until he could be deemed competent for trial which potentially meant lifelong institutionalization without being convicted of a crime because it wasn't likely that he would ever become competent for trial. The Supreme Court ruled this indefinite commitment unconstitutional as it violated both equal protection and due process clauses under the Fourteenth Amendment since non-dangerous civilly committed mental patients had more rights than those who were criminally committed but not yet proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt. This landmark decision established that states cannot commit defendants involuntarily for an indefinite period solely on account of their incapacity to proceed with their trials; instead they must be released or begin civil commitment proceedings within a reasonable period.

In the dissenting opinion for Jackson v. Indiana, Justice White argued that the majority's decision was too broad and could potentially lead to abuses of the system. He agreed with the principle that a person should not be indefinitely committed due to incompetency to stand trial but disagreed with extending this protection to those who are mentally ill or dangerous. He believed it would allow such individuals an opportunity for release without proper treatment or evaluation of their danger to society. Furthermore, he expressed concern about requiring states to provide psychiatric treatment as part of competency restoration efforts, arguing it may impose undue burdens on state resources and infringe upon states' rights in managing their criminal justice systems.