The Criminal Code is an example of legislation that is more aimed at protecting the public and obtaining justice, rather than ensuring psychiatric offenders are treated. That being said, mental health does not only become a legal problem if a mentally ill person enters the justice system. Law plays a large role in access to treatment in a general sense. In British Columbia (BC), the main legislation in this area is the Mental Health Act (MHA). It allows for the same treatment that is used in most jurisdictions – voluntary or involuntary treatment. The mental health legislation and the criminal legislation have different underlying purposes. In McCorkell v Director of Riverview Hospital, Justice Donald explained that the objects and purposes …show more content…
It is a comprehensive program involving community-based psychiatric treatment, rehabilitation and support. It is multidimensional and involves support such as case management, psychiatric services, counselling, employment programs, housing assistance and education. The ACT team is multi-disciplinary and works closely with the patient, offering follow-up support and flexible, proactive crisis response. As a result, this program requires a significant amount of time, money and resources. If enough money and resources cannot be directed towards this treatment, then we still have the problem of people with moderate mental illness slipping through the cracks. The cost is certainly an issue that would need to be addressed before implementation. Economics research would be required to determine if the greater initial cost could be justified by the decrease in hospitalization and imprisonment. For the current purpose, we will put finances aside. If we want to keep mentally ill people out of the prison system, we need to find a way to provide them with adequate and effective treatment in a timely fashion. The studies indicate that ACT has the potential to achieve this goal. Studies found decreased hospitalization, shorter hospital stays, increased adherence to medication rates, decreased illicit substance use, reduced suicide rates, improved social functioning, …show more content…
Some described a “gradual transition” from resisting medication towards developing a “therapeutic alliance” with the ACT teams. The patients were involved in the process of choosing a medication – they claimed they were asked which antipsychotic medication they preferred and had input on the appropriate dosage for themselves. Even where they were still compelled to take the medication, “they were being listened to” so they were more open to the treatment. Norway is an example of a country that noticed the issue of forced medication and worked towards improving it. In Norway, CTOs and treatment through ACT do not automatically involve a Medication Order. The officials need a separate order allowing them to compel someone to take medication. This means they typically give patients a chance to make their own decision before forcing them to take medication. In the end, the result can be the same. They can force people to take medication. However, there is a difference; it gives a voice to people who are accustomed to having no
Today, prisons are the nation’s primary providers of mental health care, and some do a better job than others. Pete Earley focuses his research on the justice system in Miami, Florida. He documents how the city’s largest prison has only one goal for their mentally ill prisoners: that they do not kill themselves. The prison has no specialized
In the book “The Mad Among Us-A History of the Care of American’s Mentally Ill,” the author Gerald Grob, tells a very detailed accounting of how our mental health system in the United States has struggled to understand and treat the mentally ill population. It covers the many different approaches that leaders in the field of mental health at the time used but reading it was like trying to read a food label. It is regurgitated in a manner that while all of the facts are there, it lacks any sense humanity. While this may be more of a comment on the author or the style of the author, it also is telling of the method in which much of the policy and practice has come to be. It is hard to put together without some sense of a story to support the action.
Belluck’s New York Times article describes a study that ordered mentally ill patients to receive treatment instead of being hospitalized. The study found that the patients were less likely to be placed in psychiatric hospitals or arrested, and outpatient treatment and medication refills increased. This also proved economical, because the mental health system and Medicaid costs were reduced by at least fifty percent. This program doesn’t only apply to the patient to accept treatment, it also requires the mental health system to provide it, making the program more effective
Studies have shown that ACT is more effective than traditional treatment for people experiencing mental illnesses such as schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder and can reduce hospitalizations by 20%.
Wouldn’t it be completely irrational to sentence every mentally ill individual to jail purely because they suffered from a mental illness? Often, mentally ill people behave in an eccentric manner and allure the attention of police officers who do not differentiate the mentally ill from mentally stable people and immediately charge them with misdemeanors. There are approximately 300,000 inmates, with the number increasing every year, which suffer from a mental illness and do not receive proper treatment. Jails are not adequately equipped to care for mentally ill inmates, which can lead to an escalation of an inmate’s illness. Society has failed to provide enough social resources for citizens suffering from psychiatric illnesses in its community, transferring mentally unstable individuals between mental institutions and jails, when in fact adequate aid such as providing proper medication, rehabilitation opportunities, and more psychiatric hospitals in communities is a necessity to reconstitute these individuals.
Thousands of people statewide are in prisons, all for different reasons. However, the amount of mental illness within prisons seems to go unaddressed and ignored throughout the country. This is a serious problem, and the therapy/rehabilitation that prison systems have do not always help those who are mentally ill. Prison involvement itself can contribute to increased suicide (Hills, Holly). One ‘therapy’ that has increased throughout the years has been the use of solitary confinement, which has many negative effects on the inmates. When an inmate has a current mental illness, prior to entering into the prison, and it goes undiagnosed and untreated, the illness can just be worsened and aggravated.
If the United States had unlimited funds, the appropriate response to such a high number of mentally ill Americans should naturally be to provide universal coverage that doesn’t discriminate between healthcare and mental healthcare. The United States doesn’t have unlimited funds to provide universal healthcare at this point, but the country does have the ability to stop coverage discrimination. A quarter of the 15.7 million Americans who received mental health care listed themselves as the main payer for the services, according to one survey that looked at those services from 2005 to 2009. 3 Separate research from the same agency found 45 percent of those not receiving mental health care listing cost as a barrier.3 President Obama and the advisors who helped construct The Affordable Care Act recognized the problem that confronts the mentally ill. Mental healthcare had to be more affordable and different measures had to be taken to help patients recover. Although The Affordable Care Act doesn’t provide mentally ill patients will universal coverage, the act has made substantial changes to the options available to them.
Although the legislation is evidence-based, it does not depend on local resources driven from within the mental health organizations involved in this case. In addition, it involves outsiders to reinforce the change in a comprehensive manner, covering all the mental health centers.... ... middle of paper ... ...
The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world and of that over sixty percent of jail inmates reported having a mental health issue and 316,000 of them are severely mentally ill (Raphael & Stoll, 2013). Correctional facilities in the United States have become the primary mental health institutions today (Adams & Ferrandino, 2008). This imprisonment of the mentally ill in the United States has increased the incarceration rate and has left those individuals medically untreated and emotionally unstable while in jail and after being released. Better housing facilities, medical treatment and psychiatric counseling can be helpful in alleviating their illness as well as upon their release. This paper will explore the increasing incarceration rate of the mentally ill in the jails and prisons of the United States, the lack of medical services available to the mentally ill, the roles of the police, the correctional officers and the community and the revolving door phenomenon (Soderstrom, 2007). It will also review some of the existing and present policies that have been ineffective and present new policies that can be effective with the proper resources and training. The main objective of this paper is to illustrate that the criminalization of the mentally ill has become a public health problem and that our policy should focus more on rehabilitation rather than punishment.
The Mental Capacity Act 2005 states that in order to protect the rights of individuals who don’t have the capacity to make their own decisions they an independent Mental capacity Advocate is put in place to learn as much as possible about the individuals and act in their best interests.
The three goals are promoting public safety, reducing criminal recidivism, plus engaging and retaining mentally ill offenders in appropriate treatment resources. Public safety is the main reason courts in America were invented, so they can determine if someone is or not, a danger to society (Yuma County Superior Court Mental Health Court, 2013). Keeping those who are consider dangerous locked up and away from society, creates a safer environment. Secondly, reducing criminal recidivism is another goal for MHC. Studies showed that the majority of mentally ill people who entered jail/prison, would come in and out of the Justice System (Yuma County Superior Court Mental Health Court, 2013). As a result, this court was created to maintain mentally ill individuals’ stable, so they can have control over themselves. This helps them to maintain themselves away from crimes. Reducing criminal recidivism, allows the government to save millions of dollars. The last goal is engaging and retaining mentally ill offenders in appropriate treatment resources so they can maintain themselves stabilized (Yuma County Superior Court Mental Health Court, 2013). This will not only secure mentally ill individuals from snapping, it will also help them maintain a regular life. With these goals, comes great benefits for both the mental ill person and society itself. Benefits such as having a mentally ill defendant not being sentences on
Those with mental illness would live in the community with an array of services and be able to be free from the constraints of confinement. In the early 1960’s the United States began an initiative to reduce and close publicly-operated mental hospitals. This became known as deinstitutionalization. The goal of deinstitutionalization was to allow people suffering from mental illness to live more independently in the community with treatments provided through community health programs. Unfortunately, the federal government did not provide sufficient ongoing funding for the programs to meet the growing demand. States reduced their budgets for mental hospitals but failed to increase funding for on-going community-based mental health programs. As a result of deinstitutionalization hundreds of thousands of mentally ill people were released into the community without the proper resources they needed for their treatment. (Harcourt,
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, vol. 11, no. 4, pp. 570-586.
States obtain many services that fall under mental health care, and that treat the mentally ill population. These range from acute and long-term hospital treatment, to supportive housing. Other effective services utilized include crisis intervention teams, case management, Assertive Community Treatment programs, clinic services, and access to psychiatric medications (Honberg at al. 6). These services support the growing population of people living in the...
4. The study indicated that inmates who received ACT and TAU both showed improvement in all areas studied. They found however, that participants in the ACT group reported higher levels of success in reducing drug problems and gaining independent living skills. This would help me in my profession, as I may be able to work in a jail and help repeat offenders become more independent and have fewer drug problems by providing them with Assertive Community Treatment.