The Medicalization of Deviance and Overview of Mental Health Courts

1732 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: conclusion of how poverty is connected to crime rates

Medicalization of deviance in the United States (U.S.) over the years has expanded as medicine has become the main response to deviance through the use of therapeutic social control. Medicalization is referenced to in criminal justice as one of the ways of explaining deviance and is used to determine the responsibility of an offender. Deviance characterizes behaviors and actions that violate social norms and is seen as having an illness or a disease needing treatment. Therapeutic social control uses medicine and science as a treatment of deviance.

Medicalization of deviance as stated by Horwitz (1981) is primarily used as a tool to identify the causes of deviance within an individual rather than in the faults of society (p. 750). The types of deviant behaviors addressed by medicalization in the U.S. includes: mental illness (insanity), child abuse, sexual abuse, homosexuality, alcoholism, delinquency, hyper activity, and the biological study of crime (Horwitz, 1981, p.750). As outlined by Owens et al., (2012) the three ways medicine can be a direct social control over deviance are medical technology, collaboration, and ideology (p. 110). The medical technology consists of the techniques and tools used to treat many illnesses and deviance. Under the criminal justice system, a crime or deviant act that is medicalized through the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the Mental Disorders (DSM) can be treated instead of punished (Owens et al., 2012, p. 110). Medical collaboration refers to the medical professions opinions and expertise that are provided to legal counsel when an offender pleas insanity (Owens et al., 2012, p. 112). Medical ideology can be seen in two ways such as: blaming a person’s deviant behavior on a disease...

... middle of paper ...

... from http://www.dswleads.com/Ebsco/The%20Medicalization%20of%20Deviance.pdf

Owen, S. S., Fradella, H. F., Burke, T. W., & Joplin, J. W. (2012). Chapter 4: Deviance and Social Control. In Foundations of criminal justice (pp. 98-119). Oxford, NY: Oxford University Press.

The People of the State of Colorado v. James Holmes, 12CR.1522 (2013). Retrieved from http://www.courts.state.co.us/Courts/District/Cases_of_Interest.cfm?District_ID=18

Seltzer, T. (2005). Mental Health Courts: A Misguided Attempt to Address the Criminal Justice System's Unfair Treatment of People with Mental Illnesses. Psychology Public Policy and Law, 11(4), 570-586. doi:10.1037/1076-8971.11.4.570

Watson, A., Hanrahan, P., Luchins, D., & Lurigio, A. (2001). Mental Health Courts and the Complex Issue of Mentally Ill Offenders. Psychiatric Services, 52(4), 477-481. doi:10.1176/appi.ps.52.4.477

Show More
Related

  • The Criminalization of the Mentally Ill

    3759 Words  | 8 Pages

    Rock, M. (2001). Emerging issues with mentally ill offenders: Casues and social consequences. Administration and Policy in Mental Health., 165-180.

    Read More

  • The Rich Get Richer The Poor Get Prison-Tara Gray Case Study

    767 Words  | 2 Pages

    1. The main thesis of the article is that deviance means going against the social norms. Social norms are also different for which person. Rosenhan says that pseudo patients are never detected as sane because each staff member has a confirmation bias. The setting of the mental hospital confirms their bias and they read each behavior from every patient and taper the behavior to fit the diagnosis.

    Read More

  • Mental Health Disorders in the Criminal Justice System: Annotated Bibliography

    2216 Words  | 5 Pages

    Constantine, R., Andel, R., Petrila, J., Becker, M., Robst, J., Teague, G., Boaz, T. and Howe, A., 2010, ‘Characteristics and experiences of adults with a serious mental Illness who were involved in the criminal justice system’, Psychiatric Services, vol. 61, no. 5, pp. 451-457.

    Read More

  • Social Values In The Bridgewater State Hospital

    853 Words  | 2 Pages

    As time goes on, the law has put more emphasis on facility just like Bridgewater State Hospital in which many of the actions of the facility workers can face legal consequences such as facing prison time, fines, lawsuits, and etc. Society has a better understanding of why certain people act the way that they do and being more knowledgeable about psychology and mental diseases allows us to have a different approach when dealing with these topics or these individuals. In today’s era, there are many normal individuals who are willing to stand up for those who do not have a voice of their own. I believe that this change in one’s ability to stand up for another individual or group of individuals is what brought about change to the medical environment of those who are mentally

    Read More

  • Gary Hardy A Missing Relative

    461 Words  | 1 Pages

    Secondly, there is a claim that a negative trend is evident when the world of health care meets the institution of law enforcement. This claim, supported by the mention of a similar case, where an inmate with a mental illness found deceased in his cell, could have been avoided if the courts sought for compassionate treatment instead of incarceration.

    Read More

  • Juvenile Offenders with Mental Illness

    1972 Words  | 4 Pages

    The juvenile justice system faces a significant challenge in identifying and responding to the psychiatric disorders of detained youth because research has shown that it is difficult to define the best means to use and enhance the scarce mental health resources (Kessler & Kraus, 2007). According to Cocozza and Skowyra (2000) “Children’s and adolescents’ mental health needs have historically been addressed inadequately in policy, practice, and research and have only the number of youth with mental illness and their level of unmet needs recognized” (p 4). Furthermore, that the juvenile justice system has gone from treatment and rehabilitation to retribution and punishment, that the prevalence is higher for youths who are involved with the system have mental health disorders when compared to the general population. In this paper I will be discussing pathways of juvenile detentions, types of mentally ill juvenile offenders, working alliance, treatment/intervention options available, challenges of untreated mental illness, and research findings.

    Read More

  • Rake’s Progress: Bedlam in Bethlam

    960 Words  | 2 Pages

    Scull, Andrew. “Moral Treatment Reconsidered: Some Sociological Comments on an Episode in the History of British Psychiatry.” In Madhouses, Mad-doctors and Madmen, edited by Andrew Scull. 105-121. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1981).

    Read More

  • The Mentally Ill Locked Up In Jail?

    937 Words  | 2 Pages

    Since the mid 1900s, individuals with mental illness have been sent to jail rather than to receive proper treatment. These patients should be able to receive treatment and care because it will be increasing the safety of not only the person themselves but also others surrounding them.

    Read More

  • Mental Health Panopticon

    1289 Words  | 3 Pages

    Lamb, H. Richard., Weinberger, Linda E., & Gross, Bruce H. (2004). Mentally ill persons in the criminal justice system: Some Perspectives. Psychiatric Quarterly 75(2): 107-126.

    Read More

  • The Criminal Justice System And Mental Illness

    1108 Words  | 3 Pages

    Prior to taking this course, I generally believed that people were rightly in prison due to their actions. Now, I have become aware of the discrepancies and flaws within the Criminal Justice system. One of the biggest discrepancies aside from the imprisonment rate between black and white men, is mental illness. Something I wished we covered more in class. The conversation about mental illness is one that we are just recently beginning to have. For quite a while, mental illness was not something people talked about publicly. This conversation has a shorter history in American prisons. Throughout the semester I have read articles regarding the Criminal Justice system and mental illness in the United States. Below I will attempt to describe how the Criminal Justice system fails when they are encountered by people with mental illnesses.

    Read More

  • The Moral Treatment and Its Succes

    1429 Words  | 3 Pages

    Moral treatment is a treatment that uses “psychological methods” to treat mental diseases (Packet Two, 26). In general, moral treatment was a relatively benevolent and humane approach to treat mental disorders. Before the introduction of moral treatment, insane people were regarded by the general public as wild animals whose brains were physically impaired and usually incurable (Packet One, 11). Therefore, regardless of patients’ specific symptoms, physicians generally labeled patients as lunatics and treated them with the same method (Packet One, 11). Because of the perceived impossibility of curing mental illness, physicians put far greater emphasis on restraining patients’ potential danger behaviors than striving to bring them back to sanity. Cruel methods such as bloodletting were widely used, but their effectiveness was really poor. Moral treatment was a response to this ineffective and brutal traditional treatment. The advocates of moral treatment insisted that mental diseases were curable. By providing a friendly environment that contributed to reviving, moral treatment could help patients to...

    Read More

  • Mental Illness and Mass Shooting

    1777 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...lo, Kellen. "Treating Mental Health Issues Can Help Justice System." U-T San Diego: Web Edition Articles 6 Mar. 2014: n. pag. NewsBank Special Reports. Web. 24 Mar. 2014.

    Read More

  • The Medicalization of Society by Peter Conrad

    1544 Words  | 4 Pages

    Conrad, Peter, and Joseph W. Schneider. 1992. Deviance and Medicalization: From Badness to Sickness. St. Louis: Mosby.

    Read More

  • Correlation Between Mental Illness and Violence and Crime

    2289 Words  | 5 Pages

    It is evident that those with mental illnesses have an increased likelihood of committing crimes. It is important to note, however, that not all people with mental illnesses commit crimes or violent behavior so a cause is not evident. Substance abuse, a mental disorder, is also seen as a large risk in violent behavior (Silver 2006). Hiday (1995) asks the questions of the direction of this correlation. Does mental illness lead to violence or is it vice versa?

    Read More

  • Models of Corrections

    1627 Words  | 4 Pages

    The medical model is the model of corrections based on the assumption that criminal behavior is caused by social, psychological, or biological deficiencies that require treatment (Clear 53). This model of corrections aimed at treating the illness of criminals with hopes that once released, the offender will be cured of their ailment and will not re-offend. In 1929, the idea of institutions aimed at rehabilitation as the primary purpose were introduced into America. It was thought that this would be easy to achieve because prisons already existed and the only adjustment would be to add programs to diagnose and treat patients. In theory this model seemed to be a perfect solution. Unfortunately, this program was unsuccessful in the long run because of budget problems and the lack of proper testing.

    Read More

More about The Medicalization of Deviance and Overview of Mental Health Courts

Open Document