The Joker Is A Fictional Supervillain Created By Bill Finger, Bob Kane, And Jerry Robinson That First

The Joker is a fictional supervillain created by Bill Finger, Bob Kane, and Jerry Robinson that first appeared in the debut issue of the comic book Batman published by DC Comics. In his comic book appearances, the Joker is portrayed as a criminal mastermind. Introduced as a psychopath with a warped, sadistic sense of humor, the character became a goofy prankster in the late 1950s in response to regulation by the Comics Code Authority, before returning to his darker roots during the early 1970s. The Joker has had various possible origin stories during his decades of appearances. The most common story involves him falling into a tank of chemical waste which bleaches his skin white, turns his hair green, and his lips bright red; the resulting disfigurement drives him insane.(All from the Wikepidia page ‘Joker (comics)’)

The Joker is a widely known comic book character, and as a result he reaches a vast majority of the general public, as well as different age groups. He’s not the only comic book villain who’s portrayed as insane, either, with a lot of other mental illnesses, and this mass negative portrayal only adds to the stigma of violence and other tendencies.

In truth, people with mental illnesses aren’t all that violent.

“Although studies suggest a link between mental illnesses and violence, the contribution of people with mental illnesses to overall rates of violence is small, and further, the magnitude of the relationship is greatly exaggerated in the minds of the general population.”

 "…the vast majority of people who are violent do not suffer from mental illnesses.“

 "The absolute risk of violence among the mentally ill as a group is very small… only a small proportion of the violence in our society can be attributed to persons who are mentally ill.”

“People with psychiatric disabilities are far more likely to be victims than perpetrators of violent crime. People with severe mental illnesses, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or psychosis, are 2 ½ times more likely to be attacked, raped or mugged than the general population.”

http://depts.washington.edu/mhreport/facts_violence.php