Research has found that the public holds negative attitudes towards the NCRMD defence and views individuals using it as dangerous and avoiding punishment (Goossens et al., 2021). Within these attitudes, people appear to attribute behavioural control and stability or consistency across time towards NCRMD adjudicated. Thus, it was hypothesized that these attributions could influence punishment goals and NCRMD attitudes. This study examined public attitudes towards NCRMD-accused using a 2x2 factorial design vignette manipulating two offender characteristics: the amount of control the offender had over their behaviour (high or low) and the stability of their behaviour (high or low). Undergraduate psychology students completed an online survey using the vignette and instruments to assess causal attributions, punishment goals, and NCRMD attitudes. Participant responses were analyzed using qualitative (N = 156) and quantitative (N = 544) analysis. The results did not support attributions affecting punishment preference and NCRMD attitudes. Constructed themes from reflexive thematic analysis included the role of medication in predicting behaviour, interpreting stability as emotionally stable, and perceptions of mental illness and criminality. The results from this study suggest that people do not consider the legal criteria for NCRMD in their attributions of control and that control is changeable in an NCRMD context. Additionally, financial barriers to medication can mitigate public perceptions of control. Finally, attributions of stability may function differently within an NCRMD context than in a carceral context.