The Criminal Justice System And Mental Illness
analytical Essay
1108 words
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.
I wanted to look more into mental illness within prison walls because this affects me personally. I have a family member who suffers from bipolar disorder and similar to from what I have read in these articles, she has had numerous run ins with the police due to her illness. None of these encounters have resulted in her being arrested and sentenced, but numerous of these run ins have lead to the cops bringing her or suggesting to the family to bring her into the psychiatric centers. Now taking this course I have realized how lucky she is for not being arrested. As we have talked about in class women and hispanics are the the fastest growing population in prisons and she is both as well as having a mental disorder.
Criminal Justice officials understand the situation in their prisons regarding mental health but have not taken action to fix it. For example, “According to the Department of Justice, abo...
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...to what aw saw with the Community Mental Health Act. This act took the funds out of state run facilities and was promised to the communities, but these communities never saw that money. I would go as far as to assume that this money also found its way into law enforcement.
I believe that the money for treatment was used for local police due to the fact that more of the policies resources were being used by people with mental illness. For example, USA today cites the story of one particular repeated offender “(the repeat offender) who has been arrested more than 100 times, ringing up more than $1 million in repeated arrest and retention related cost.” This is not a singular case, many mentally ill and emotionally disturbed cases tend to be repeat offenders. For example, the cops in my aunt 's area have gotten used to getting called to her home every couple of months.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that they have become aware of the discrepancies and flaws within the criminal justice system.
- Explains that they wanted to look more into mental illness within prison walls because this affects them personally. they have a family member who suffers from bipolar disorder and have had numerous run ins with the police due to her illness.
- Opines that criminal justice officials understand the situation in their prisons regarding mental health but have not taken action to fix it.
- Explains that the community mental health act in the late sixties and early seventies decided to close state funded mental health institutions. they realized the abuse going on in state institutions and wanted to bring people closer to the community.
- Explains that the failure of the community mental health act left these people with nowhere to go. instead of pressing the political leaders to help, they put them in jails.
- Analyzes how the media has chronicled numerous accounts of men and women with mental illnesses shot down by the cops or arrested.
- Opines that mr. pean's story is important because he rightly went to the hospital, a safe area, for his condition. hospitals are seen as safe havens, but just like numerous institutions, they are becoming more dangerous.
- Analyzes how unfair drug laws were targeting minorities in the country. reagan took funds away from agencies responsible for drug addiction while budgets for law enforcement grew.
- Argues that the money for treatment was used for local police due to the fact that more of the policies resources were being used by people with mental illness.
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- The Mentally Ill Prison Populationopinionated essayThe mentally ill prison population presents unique challenges for prisons systems. The United States has the highest rate of adult incarceration among developed countries with nearly 2.2 million currently in jails and prisons. According to Human Rights Watch, the staggering rate of incarcerated mentally ill is a result of under-funded, disorganized and fragmented mental health services (2006). Prison systems need to address the needs of the mentally ill population. As Reginald Wilkinson, Director of the Ohio Rehabilitation and Corrections noted, Correction agencies will have to deal with this population sooner or later. Prisoners have a constitutional right to mental health care while incarnated and many systems have been sued for what the plaintiffs consider to be lack of mental health service delivery” (Gaseau 2004). Gradually over the past several years as the number of mentally ill offenders has drastically increased some states such as Ohio and Maryland have recognized that this is a large population that needs to be better managed and have begun to reform the treatment programs and care for the mentally ill; however, not all states have been as proactive at addressing the problem. Dealing with the mentally ill prison population is another major problem that needs to tackle by all state and federal prisons as this population continues to grow.
In this essay, the author
- States that the united states has the highest rate of adult incarceration among developed countries with nearly 2.2 million currently in jails and prisons.
- Explains the history of the mentally ill prison population in the age of enlightenment.
- Explains that dorothea dix is recognized as one of the most successful psychiatric reformers in american history.
- Opines that prisons need to address the needs of the mentally ill population.
- Opines that state and federal correctional systems need to be proactive with confronting the problem to avoid law suits and protect the constitutional rights of the inmates.
- Explains that deinstitutionalization is the process of closing down hospitals in the united states. the problem was inadequate funding and commitment did not follow this change.
- States that the united states has the highest rate of adult incarceration among developed countries with nearly 2.2 million currently in jails and prisons.
- Argues that the ohio department of rehabilitation and corrections is one of the best systems in dealing with the mentally ill inmates.
2012 wordsRead More - The Criminalization of the Mentally Illopinionated essayProblem Analysis: 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).
In this essay, the author
- Argues 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.
- Opines that the deinstitutionalization of state mental hospitals has left many individuals untreated and in the community where there come under police scrutiny due to their odd behavior.
- Explains the lack of medical services in the prisons and jails, and the high risk of decomposition and deterioration.
- Explains that the criminal justice system is unable to handle mentally ill inmates without mental health professionals and adequate training to correctional officials.
- Opines that a proposal to new policies and applying factors to existing policies can be effective in maintaining the mentally ill.
- Opines that mental health professionals and the police and correctional officers working together are the most positive reinforcement.
- Opines that if jails and prisons focus on treating mentally ill inmates, they can save money and maintain public safety.
- Explains that homelessness is a major factor with the mentally ill incarcerated. correctional staff releases an inmate when the sentence is served, without further thought of their mental capacity, while mental health professionals rehabilitate the offender back into the community.
- Explains that mental health courts, medical assessing policies, and discharge planning and linkage models are effective, but time-consuming and costly.
- Recommends a mandatory mental health screening on all incoming detainees for mental disorders, pharmacological treatment, group and recreational therapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy and dialectical behavioral therapy.
- Argues that policies tend to have negative aspects especially when it comes to an assortment of individuals. liberal ideology favors treating the mentally ill and placing them into home based community settings.
- Explains adams, k., hughes, s. and markowitz, f. e. on mental illness, crime, and violence.
3759 wordsRead More - Incarceration of The Mentally Illanalytical essayThe United States criminal justice system has been continuously increasing incarceration among individuals who suffer from a sever mental illness. As of 2007 individuals with severe mental illness were over twice as likely to be found in prisons than in society (National Commission of Correctional Health Care, 2002, as cited in Litschge &Vaughn, 2009). The offenses that lead to their commitment in a criminal facility, in the majority of cases, derive from symptoms of their mental illness instead of deviant behavior. Our criminal justice system is failing those who would benefit more from the care of a psychiatric rehabilitation facility or psychiatric hospital by placing them in correctional facilities or prisons.
In this essay, the author
- Opines that the criminal justice system is failing those who would benefit more from psychiatric rehabilitation by placing them in correctional facilities or prisons.
- Explains the complexity of defining a mental disorder in the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders.
- Explains that a 2006 bureau of justice statistics report found that over half of the inmates in both prisons and jails had mental health problems.
- Explains that james and glaze (2006) separated their results by gender. they found that 55 percent of males in state prisons displayed characteristics of mental illness, 43.6 percent in federal prisons, and 62.8 percent
- Explains that in state, federal, and local prisons, hispanic inmates experienced consistently lower rates of symptoms of mental illness compared to blacks.
- Explains that inmates, ages 24 and younger, were at the highest risk of having a mental illness consistently in all levels of institutions.
- Cites litschge & vaughn's findings that incarceration of mentally ill people increased in the 1970s. over-crowding in hospitals and housing regulations led to homelessness.
- Explains that the federal government took responsibility of caring for the mentally ill from the mid 1940’s until the 1980 presidential election of regan.
- Analyzes how james and glaze (2006) found that inmates with mental health problems were twice as likely to have been homeless in the year preceding their arrest than those without mental problems.
- Analyzes amanda pustilnik's findings that the criminal justice system functions as the united states' default asylum system.
- Explains that many oppressed groups are affected by the unnecessary and excessive incarceration of the mentally ill. women, low socioeconomic status, and homelessness increase the likelihood of arrest due to a mental illness.
- Explains that social justice is the second ethical principle found in the national association of social workers code of ethics (nasw).
- Explains the american psychiatric association's diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders.
- Explains the clinical specificity hypothesis, which states that psycho-pathological profiles determine different types of psychosocial functioning and lead to particular interactions with the social environment, especially with health care services use.
- Cites bloom, j., côté, and lesage, a. clinical and sociodemographic profiles of male inmates with severe mental illness.
1782 wordsRead More - Civil Commitment and the Mentally Illexplanatory essayIt is very hard to differentiate an ordinary mental health from a mental illness because there is no easy way of knowing unless you test them. Also, some mental health illnesses can be imitated by physical disorders. Mental health illnesses are ruled on any physical disorder, they are diagnosed and treated from the signs and symptoms, and also on how much the illness affects your everyday life ("Mental health: What's normal, what's not - Mayo Clinic", n.d.). Civil commitment laws have been around in the United States ever since the 1800s. Civil commitment cases mostly consist of family members of a mentally ill person who will try to commit the person in order to guarantee that they get help. The court system does not always care for civil commitment if the person is not showing direct danger or threats to them self or to others around them ("Civil Commitment of the Mentally Ill", n.d). In this paper we will talk about the insanity statutes being used in the state of Georgia and how often the insanity defense is being used, and the major criticisms of the insanity defense.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that mental health illnesses can be imitated by physical disorders. civil commitment laws have been around in the united states since the 1800s.
- Explains that the public has fought with the idea that a mentally ill person shouldn't be held accountable for criminal crimes. montana, idaho, and utah do not consent for the defendant to plea an insanity defense.
- Explains that the insanity defense is used in fewer than 1 percent of criminal trials, and it is successful only a quarter of the time.
- Explains that there are many criticisms of the insanity defense, and people have come up with their disapproval of this type of defense.
- Opines that psychologists should provide an ultimate opinion in insanity cases. the federal rules of evidence espouse a generally liberal approach towards expert testimony.
- Explains that mental ill prisoners are kept in the same prison as other prisoners because of the huge prison building many states have assumed over the past years to keep up with the rising prison populations.
- Explains that insanity defence: from wild beasts to m'naghten. australasian psychiatry, 15(4), 292-298.
- Cites ersland, s., the daily iowan, and goldstein, r. l.
- Explains wrightsman's psychology and the legal system.
- Cites the mayo clinic's mental health and criminal justice: an introductory text for the 21st century.
811 wordsRead More - Pros And Cons Of Mental Illnessanalytical essayThe purpose of jail is to control criminals, decrease crime rates, decrease recidivism, and by the end of the inmate 's sentencing individuals are expected to return to society as if everything were “normal”. However, the majority of individuals who are incarcerated is because they did not pay fines, they were not able to post bail, or because they have a mental health diagnosis. Who knew jails were the new models of psychiatric facilities. It’s been proven that people with mental illness often experience worsened symptoms, recidivism, and abuse while incarcerated. Which poses the question of is jail the place individuals with a mental health diagnosis should be?
In this essay, the author
- Explains the purpose of jail is to control criminals, decrease crime rates, reduce recidivism, and by the end of the inmate's sentencing individuals are expected to return to society as if everything was "normal".
- Explains that massachusetts bay colony approved incarceration for anyone who appeared insane or maniacal due to their concern for the safety of ordinary people.
- Explains that 64% of inmates had a mental health problem in 2006 study, and 73% of females and 55% of males made up the number of those in state prisons.
- Argues that people with mental health problems are at higher risk of being victims of violence than perpetrators.
- Explains that the severity of symptoms increases when an individual with a mental illness is put in jail. punitive isolation units are not suited for individuals with mental illnesses.
- Explains that mental health court is a court with specialized docket for certain defendants with mental illness.
- Explains that inmates with a mental illness are entitled to an environment that is safe and protected from harm, and the right to adequate medical and health care.
2180 wordsRead More - The Silent Pandemiaanalytical essay...inical professor at the University of Colorado. Unless the country develops a decent mental health care system, this issue will continue (Qtd. In “Prison Health Care, 3). More than 2 million inmates in U.S. prisons suffer from mental illness, addiction, infectious, or chronic diseases like HIV/AIDS and diabetes (“Prison Health Care”, 1). About a quarter suffer from severe depression and a fifth from psychosis (2). The majority of prisoners have no health problems at the time they became incarcerated; once imprisoned, they acquired a mental disorder (1). In 1976, the Supreme Court ruled that prisoners have the right to free health care due to the Eighth Amendment (4). Yet, prisons fail to provide health care of decent quality. Some prisons do not even have licensed physicians (5). Most doctors do not wish to work in a prison, therefore resources become substandard.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that an estimated 61.5 million american lives suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder in any given year. the social stigma of mental illness prevails despite advances in science and technology.
- Explains that mental illness is difficult to define since mental stability varies from person to person. the american psychiatric association voted to remove homosexuality from the manual in 1973.
- Explains that the government attempts to repair this social issue. since the early 20th century, legislation was passed to support mental health hospitals.
- Explains that young adults between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five are at a much higher risk of committing suicide than any other age group.
- Argues that mental health screenings in schools are the most effective to diagnose depression, substance abuse, anxiety and trauma.
- Opines that unless the country develops a decent mental health care system, this issue will continue.
816 wordsRead More - The Negative Effects Of Solitary Prisonation In Prisonsexplanatory essayThousands 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.
In this essay, the author
- Opines that mental illness in prisons goes unaddressed and ignored throughout the country. prison involvement itself can contribute to increased suicide.
- Describes mental illness as impairment of an individual's normal cognitive, emotional, or behavioral functioning caused by social, psychological, biochemical, genetic or other factors, such as infection or head trauma. overcrowding is a complex phenomenon.
- Explains that super-max prisons use solitary confinement as both a form of punishment and therapy.
- Explains that solitary confinement can cause anxiety, depression, anger, cognitive turmoil, hallucinations, obsession, and fixation. it is inhumane and should be called torture.
- Explains that death row inmates are often overlooked in the mental health area, as they suffer from brain trauma, physical and/or sexual abuse. james johnson, a vietnam veteran, suffered from post traumatic stress disorder.
- Explains gallemore and panton's 1972 study of death row inmates showed high feelings of depression and hopelessness, yet severe disturbances were not observed.
- Opines that inmates/offenders entering into the prison system need to be screened for mental health and substance abuse disorders. screenings would help identify individuals who could potentially hurt or endanger themselves and others.
- Explains that some prisons have rehabilitation programs for inmates that need it, but the therapy sometimes doesn't help. brandy lee's strict program in san francisco jails reduced violent re-offences by over 50 percent.
- Opines that medication can help inmates with severe mental illnesses, but staff won't try to offer different medication or therapy if an inmate refuses it. treatment for those who are mentally ill needs to be more serious in prisons.
- Explains that the eighth amendment applies to inmates with severe mental illnesses. it is not acceptable or humane to not give the proper treatment to those who are mentally ill or mentally unstable.
- Opines that prison systems need to be more mindful and aware of those with severe mental illnesses because it affects everybody, not just the inmates.
- Opines that all prisons need to take mental illnesses more seriously. solitary confinement is a dangerous way of therapy, and tends to only have negative effects on the inmate.
1427 wordsRead More - The Mentally Ill in Jailopinionated essayThe Mentally Ill in Jail The articles inform that more mentally ill people are in jail than in hospitals. According to statistics 159,000 of mentally ill are presently incarcerated in jails and prisons, mostly of crimes committed because they were not being treated. Some of them become violent and may terrorize their families and neighborhoods. Tragically, most of those instances of incarceration are unnecessary.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that 159,000 mentally ill people are incarcerated in jails and prisons, mostly of crimes committed because they were not being treated.
- Explains that the deinstitutionalisation of the severely mentally ill in the 60ties qualifies as one of america's largest social experiments.
- Opines that prisoners are virtually devoid of dignity and lack adequate treatment and understanding. even if they take medications, there is no guarantee that they will continue with the treatment after they are released into the communities.
- Opines that the solution to the problem is to provide sufficient funding for the community-based mental health system so people could be helped before they become part of the prison system.
- Analyzes how the ohio department of mental health director, mike hogan, does not think that the county has a problem with the mentally ill. he believes most of them have been successfully integrated in society.
- Opines that such wishful thinking does not help the thousands who suffer from mental illness. senator mike dewine and democrat ted strickland are working on promoting federal legislation that would fund a pilot court program to direct mentally ill prisoners to treatment facilities instead of jail.
462 wordsRead More - Mental Illness in the United States and Government Policiesargumentative essayWhile the U.S. government has passed many bills and laws protecting the rights of the mentally ill and the people around them, there are many aspects of the mental health program that point to the fact that there is still much work to be done.
In this essay, the author
- Opines that while the u.s. government has passed many bills and laws protecting the rights of the mentally ill and the people around them, there are many aspects of mental health program that point to the fact that there is still much work to be done.
- Explains that the national alliance on mental illness (nami) insists that mental illness is underfunded despite its $978.4 million budget.
- Explains that the first major law passed by the u.s. government in relation to mental health protection was the packard law passed in the state of illinois in 1867.
- Explains the durham rule, which states that the defendant cannot be convicted of a crime if the crime itself was committed because of mental illness.
- Explains that the community mental health centers act, signed by john f. kennedy in 1963, helped people who were stuck in large state facilities move back into their communities.
- Explains the loophole between the hipaa and nics law is responsible for thousands of deaths every year.
- Analyzes how the publication of one who flew over the cuckoo's nest by ken kelsey rocked the world and began major change in the mental health system.
- Explains how antnio egas moniz invented the lobotomy, which was performed on monkeys, schizophrenia patients, and psychiatrist walter freeman.
- Explains that rose marie was the first person with mental retardation in america to receive a pre-frontal lobotomy.
- Explains that the americans with disability's act prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in employment, transportation, public accommodation, communications, and governmental activities.
- Concludes that many aspects of the u.s. mental health program are weak, from gun control to mistreatment of patients to severe underfunding.
2980 wordsRead More - Mental Health within the Criminal Justice Systemanalytical essayThis essay intends to address the role that state agencies, both within the Criminal Justice System (CJS) and more broadly the institutions of education, employment and health, play in supporting and implementing diversionary programs for offenders with mental health problems. Mental health is clearly one of the most critical issues facing the Australian and New South Wales (NSW) CJS with research indicating that offenders with mental health problems constitute the majority of those within the prison system. The current strategies for diversion will be critically evaluated in order to determine their effectiveness with regard to the delivery and production of justice, cultural sensitivity for Indigenous Australians will also be considered. The social construction of mental illness and the associated process of stigmatisation of this particular group will be explored in conjunction to explain why society still fails to prevent the mass entry of people with mental health issues into the traditional CJS.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes the role of state agencies in supporting and implementing diversionary programs for offenders with mental health problems in the australian and new south wales cjs.
- Explains the importance of a clear definition of mentally ill, which adds to the notion that people with mental health problems are inherently more dangerous.
- Opines that the social construction of mental illness limits an individual's life opportunities as they are labelled as psychotic stalkers, comic figures, neurotics who do everything to excess, or sometimes as sympathetic characters.
- Explains why society fails to prevent the mass entry of people with mental health issues into the traditional cjs by encouraging independence through employment.
- Explains that the disproportionate number of offenders with mental health problems within the cjs has prompted various australian jurisdictions to implement diversionary programs aimed specifically at this marginalised group.
- Explains that the formal construction of a mental health court in australia and internationally was due to the lack of treatment available within the community setting, which influenced encounters between people with mental illness and the police.
- Argues that mental health courts fail to address why society fails to prevent the mass entry of people with mental illness into the traditional cjs.
- Analyzes how the south australian magistrates court diversion program in its first year of operation heard cases from only seven offenders with an indigenous background. this anomaly can be attributed in part to the different constructs of mental illness within indigenous communities.
- Explains how the nsw mental health (forensic provisions) act 1990 gives a magistrate authority to divert offenders with mental illnesses or intellectual disabilities into community treatment.
- Opines that the issue of offenders with mental health problems must be given clear consideration to ensure that each offender receives just and fair treatment that acknowledges their specific needs.
- States that beyond bars alliance (bba) 2007 fact sheet no. 9, bba, assessed 21 september 2011.
- Describes butler t. & allnutt s. mental illness among new south wales’ prisoners.
- Cites devoe, d., capital university law review, 2003-2004, pp. 925-933.
- Cites king, m., smith, a. & gracey. the underlying causes of the health gap.
- States lurigio, a.j., 'examining prevailing beliefs about people with serious mental illness in the criminal justice system', federal probation, vol.
- States nelson, f. & mann, t., ‘opportunities in public policy to support infant and early childhood mental health.
- Describes the mental health intervention team news, brochure, and the nsw police force, new south wales.
- Cites richardson, e. & mcsherry, b., 2010, ‘diversion down under – programs for offenders with mental illnesses in australia’, international journal of law psychiatry.
- Opines that mental health courts are a misguided attempt to address the criminal justice system's unfair treatment of people with mental illnesses.
- Explains wolff, and pogorzelski, 2005, 'measuring the effectiveness of mental health courts – challenges and recommendations'.
2586 wordsRead More