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Mental illness and criminal justice system
Mental illness and criminal justice system
Mental illness and criminal justice system
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In the United States the society as a whole has adopted a sense of “justice” and incarcerating people, and punishing crimes. Although the system of justice may be effective in some ways it is not always perfect. Mens Rea is the main and most important element in crime for which people are punished for. Mens Rea is the level of culpability of someone who committed a crime; it’s the level of mental awareness of the person when committing the crime.
There is four different levels for which we punish people in the mens rea aspect and which should be specified and written in the laws of different crimes. The first and highest level is intentional or purposeful which usually is specified in the law as “with intent to”, the second level is knowing and is applied when no other level is mentioned, third level is reckless and this would be a person who is aware of the risks of the crime and regardless of the risk still commit the crime. Last and fourth level of mens rea would be negligence which is failing to act or do something to prevent the crime or failed to do something that lead to the crime to happen.
All four levels of mens rea are directly connected to how we punish people because this is what the system looks for in a person who had committed a crime, what were they thinking? Did the intentionally did it? And so on. Mens rea in great majority gives punishment some purpose, some legal reason as of why we are punishing and rationalizing the time that would be served and so on, all depends on the level of thought of the person. In America people have this idea of not punishing criminals for their state of mind but for their acts, but what the system really does is punish people by the level of Mens Rea or thought. Punishing peo...
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...ted in the video, most of them because of the limited resources and beds they are not able to hold the mentally ill for long, they have a limited amount of time to be there and released back on their own to society where they are most likely to end up homeless. These people have little support not only form their families if any, but from the system itself. Prison is used a mental health institution and this is not the answer, most of these people do not understand their actions as been bad or some of them do but is all a product of their paranoia or whatever the case may be of the illness and so they shouldn’t be punish when the punishment is not going to solve their mental situation. In most of the cases these guys were apprehended and released over 20 times and are just a repeated cycle that could be avoided if help and more institutions were provided for them.
An important issue that needs to be addressed within the Central Justice System is to have a reduction in the number of offenders in order to keep both society safe and reduce the population of prisons to an absolute minimum. A tool that is being widely used in order to manage and reduce recidivism rates among the average offender is the RNR model, however when it is used to treat different minority groups problems can arise as they all require different strategies in order to deal with their needs and make the model work. This essay will prove that the RNR model has the ability to reduce recidivism when it has been modified in order to accompany for the minority group of female offenders as well as highlight what challenges this specific group
This essay begins with the introduction of the Risk-Needs-Responsivitiy Model which was developed to assess offending and offer effective rehabilitation and treatment (Andrews & Bonta, 2007). The R-N-R model “remains the only empirically validated guide for criminal justice interventions that aim to help offenders” (Polashek, 2012, p.1) consisting of three principles which are associated with reductions in recidivism of up to 35% (Andrew & Bonta, 2010); risk, need and responsivity. Firstly, the risk principle predicts the offenders risk level of reoffending based on static and dynamic factors, and then matched to the degree of intervention needed. Secondly, the R-N-R targets individual’s criminogenic needs, in relation to dynamic factors. Lastly, the responsivity principle responds to specific responsivity e.g. individual needs and general responsivity; rehabilitation provided on evidence-based programming (Vitopoulous et al, 2012).
I believe that instead of incarcerating them they should be put in facilities that will help them get treatment for their disabilities, disorders, and drug addictions. If they are being rehabilitated the right way it will help prevent further crimes and also will help the offender go back into society and live a crime free lifestyle. For Christel Tribble being locked up actually helped her out to realize that she doesn’t want to be a delinquent. She was motivated by her mother to continue her education and to realize that it’s not worth being in the court system at such a young age because it will be a never ending cycle. For Keith Huff, he went to Kentucky State prison five times serving a total of 27 years in the criminal justice system. He was incarcerated for drug problems, which in the long run won’t help him. It would be more beneficial for him to receive help to prevent him from using drugs. If they sent him to a rehabilitation center where he can receive the appropriate help he need it would prevent him from future imprisonment. As for Charles McDuffie he was an addict and a Vietnam veteran suffering from PTSD. He was sentenced to prison, which was no help for him in his situation dealing with PTSD. He needed mental health treatment to help him deal with the tragedies that he was remembering from the Vietnam War. Luckily when McDuffie got out of prison his friends, who
are presented as rational actors who intentionally commit crimes while women are viewed as mentally unfit victims who are vulnerable to risky men and poor relationship choices. The author reports that many prison
Immanuel Kant has long been considered an exemplar of the retributive system. He claims punishment, retributive justice's primary reaction to wrongdoing(4), is the only way justice is upheld, and the state needs
The issue of executing mentally ill criminals has been widely debated among the public. They debate on whether it is right or wrong to execute a person who does not possess the capacity to think correctly. The mental illness is a disease that destroys a person’s memory, emotion, and prevent one or more function of the mind running properly. The disease affects the way a person thinks, feels, behaves and relates to others.When a person is severely mentally ill, his/ her ability to appreciate reality lack so they aspire to do stuff that is meaningless. The sickness is triggered by an amalgamation of genetic, and environmental factors not a personal imperfection. On the death penalty website, Scott Panetti who killed his mother in-law and father-in-law reports that since 1983, over 60 people with mental illness or retardation have been executed in the United States (Panetti). The American Civil Liberties Union says that it is unconstitutional to execute someone who suffered from an earnest mental illness (ACLU).Some people apply the term crazy or mad to describe a person who suffers from astringent psychological disorders because a mad person look different than a mundane human being. The time has come for us to accept the fact that executing mentally ill offenders is not beneficial to society for many reasons. Although some mentally ill criminals have violated the law, we need to sustain a federal law that mentally ill criminals should not be put to death.
Three quarters of all these criminals keep getting out and committing even more crimes. This cycle repeats itself over and over. You might ask yourself where the justice is for these victims. For some of them even death will not erase the pain and suffering they have been exposed to. I sincerely believe that some crimes are not punished enough. For instance, in the case of pedophiles, how is a lengthy prison sentence a just punishment? These monsters have stolen the innocence away from these kids. No matter how much counseling and love they receive, nothing will erase the horror of what they have endured. The pedophile is not suffering in the least sitting in prison. They are usually segregated from the rest of the prison population due to the fact that even the most hardened criminals hate pedophiles. (This in itself speaks volumes.) These monsters spend their time reading, listening to music, exercising, watching TV, getting and education. They get medical care, meals and clothing. All courtesy of the taxpayer. All the while the victim is living with the memory of the horror of what they have experienced. This kind of crime is one I believe should be a death penalty
Since the beginning there has been many crimes that have had severe consequences. These crimes are crimes such as rapes, genocide, murder, and aggravated assaults (CITE). The Restorative justice system tries to help individuals that have committed some of these crimes. Some of the Restorative justice system founders are John Braithwaite, Howard Zehr, and Mark Umbret .The Restorative justice system emerged in 1970 (CITE). The Restorative justice system is a response to crime and wrongdoing that emphasizes the repairing of the harm that was created, recognizes the importance of victim, offender, and community involvement, and promote positive future behavior (CITE). Restorative justice is a response to what was considered to be an overly harsh
Recidivism rate in the United States is extremely high. According to the National institute of Justice, “Within three years of release, about two-thirds (67.8 percent) of released prisoners were rearrested. Within five years of release, about three-quarters (76.6 percent) of released prisoners were rearrested. Of those prisoners who were rearrested, more than half (56.7 percent) were arrested by the end of the first year.” Those who have been in prison are more
Mental illness is any disease or condition that reconstruct the way a person thinks, feels, behaves, relates to others and to his or her surroundings. The symptoms can range from mild to severe, and can be presented in different forms, such as Schizophrenia, Bipolar disorder, Anxiety disorder, Depression, and Obsessive compulsive disorder. (NHS Choices, 2013) When mental illness is not being treated appropriately, the individual often find coping with life’s daily routine and demand difficult. There are various models being used in the treatment of mental illness, such as Medical model, Social model, Psychological model and Family models. (Mental HealthCare, 2013)
What is retributive justice? It is a system of criminal justice based on the punishment of offenders rather than rehabilitation. According to our notes, it is the oldest sense of the word justice. Others think of it as “an eye for an eye” or “getting even”. Justice should be more than getting even for crimes and offenses. Retributive justifications of punishments have largely endured the test of time.
...to be done is our facilities should emulate Mckean prison. Mckean's inmates are denied freedom but they have the ability to teach themselves trades, get drug treatment, and meet god. If we treat convicts like humans they will respond as humans. We cannot dehumanize them anymore and expect our communities to benefit from it. It does not work. There is no need to build more prisons, they need to decrease the rate of throwing non-violent offenders in prison. These offenders could do community service and be under house arrest where they still have the ability to hold their families together, so the vicious cycle does not continue. All I can stress is our system needs reform soon. We can only prepare for it, society's ills has already created these predators. Therefor, we need to push for new plans and theories on how we can shape tomorrow's flowers before they bloom.
Schizophrenia is a serious, chronic mental disorder characterized by loss of contact with reality and disturbances of thought, mood, and perception. Schizophrenia is the most common and the most potentially sever and disabling of the psychosis, a term encompassing several severe mental disorders that result in the loss of contact with reality along with major personality derangements. Schizophrenia patients experience delusions, hallucinations and often lose thought process. Schizophrenia affects an estimated one percent of the population in every country of the world. Victims share a range of symptoms that can be devastating to themselves as well as to families and friends. They may have trouble dealing with the most minor everyday stresses and insignificant changes in their surroundings. They may avoid social contact, ignore personal hygiene and behave oddly (Kass, 194). Many people outside the mental health profession believe that schizophrenia refers to a “split personality”. The word “schizophrenia” comes from the Greek schizo, meaning split and phrenia refers to the diaphragm once thought to be the location of a person’s mind and soul. When the word “schizophrenia” was established by European psychiatrists, they meant to describe a shattering, or breakdown, of basic psychological functions. Eugene Bleuler is one of the most influential psychiatrists of his time. He is best known today for his introduction of the term “schizophrenia” to describe the disorder previously known as dementia praecox and for his studies of schizophrenics. The illness can best be described as a collection of particular symptoms that usually fall into four basic categories: formal thought disorder, perception disorder, feeling/emotional disturbance, and behavior disorders (Young, 23). People with schizophrenia describe strange of unrealistic thoughts. Their speech is sometimes hard to follow because of disordered thinking. Phrases seem disconnected, and ideas move from topic to topic with no logical pattern in what is being said. In some cases, individuals with schizophrenia say that they have no idea at all or that their heads seem “empty”. Many schizophrenic patients think they possess extraordinary powers such as x-ray vision or super strength. They may believe that their thoughts are being controlled by others or that everyone knows what they are thinking. These beliefs ar...
... they are too jumbled to follow the many rules enforced by correctional facilities and, as a result, are more likely to be housed in solitary confinement: Numerous studies suggest further that “many offenders with serious mental illnesses cannot tolerate the severe conditions of solitary confinement and are particularly likely to experience mental and physical deterioration.“
Mens rea known as the “mental element” of an offence has long been regarded as a crucial factor in criminal law, aiming to ensure that only those who are blameworthy are punished for crimes thus inputting the role of fairness into the criminal law system. H.L.A Hart agreed with this fairness rationale arguing that it would be wrong to convict and punish anyone who had not been given ‘a fair opportunity’ to exercise the capacity for ‘doing what the law requires and abstaining from what it forbids.’ “The general rule is that no crime can be committed unless there is mens rea.” But this is departed from when creating strict liability offences.