The Criminalization Of Mental Illness

"For a myriad of reasons the criminal justice system has become the de facto mental health system in the United States. The third edition of The Criminalization of Mental Illness thoroughly explains these reasons, and describes in detail specialized law enforcement responses to people with mental illness (PWMI), mental health courts, jails and prison conditions, and discharge planning for this group. The third edition also includes examples of crises involving PWMI that end up driving policy, examines how therapeutic jurisprudence can be utilized to improve responses to PWMI and to ameliorate the inhumane and costly recycling of PWMI through the criminal justice system, and provides insight from criminal justice practitioners, in their own words, about the challenges both PWMI and practitioners face in the system and efforts to overcome them. This edition also examines the tension throughout the system when attempting to balance public safety and civil liberties. The concept of defunding the police and the impact of the Affordable Care Act on PWMI are considered as well"--

Contributors to this volume present and discuss new data which suggest that major mental disorder substantially increases the risk of violent crime. These findings come at a crucial time, since those who suffer from mental disorders are increasingly living in the community, rather than in institutions. The book describes the magnitude and complexity of the problem and offers hope that humane, effective intervention can prevent violent crime being committed by the seriously mentally disordered.

The second edition of A Handbook for the Study of Mental Health provides a comprehensive review of the sociology of mental health. Chapters by leading scholars and researchers present an overview of historical, social and institutional frameworks. Part I examines social factors that shape psychiatric diagnosis and the measurement of mental health and illness, theories that explain the definition and treatment of mental disorders and cultural variability. Part II investigates effects of social context, considering class, gender, race and age, and the critical role played by stress, marriage, work and social support. Part III focuses on the organization, delivery and evaluation of mental health services, including the criminalization of mental illness, the challenges posed by HIV, and the importance of stigma. This is a key research reference source that will be useful to both undergraduates and graduate students studying mental health and illness from any number of disciplines.

An in-depth examination of the factors contributing to the criminalization of mental illness and strategies to combat them.

An urgent exposé of the mental health crisis in our courts, jails, and prisons America has made mental illness a crime. Jails in New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago each house more people with mental illnesses than any hospital. As many as half of all people in America's jails and prisons have a psychiatric disorder. One in four fatal police shootings involves a person with such disorders. In this revelatory book, journalist Alisa Roth goes deep inside the criminal justice system to show how and why it has become a warehouse where inmates are denied proper treatment, abused, and punished in ways that make them sicker. Through intimate stories of people in the system and those trying to fix it, Roth reveals the hidden forces behind this crisis and suggests how a fairer and more humane approach might look. Insane is a galvanizing wake-up call for criminal justice reformers and anyone concerned about the plight of our most vulnerable.

Discover how to best provide effective mental health treatments for criminal offenders Prisons and jails are increasingly being filled with inmates who suffer from mental illness and need treatment. Mental Health Issues in the Criminal Justice System examines a wide range of the latest research and learned perspectives focusing on the intersection of mental health services and the criminal justice system. Top experts and academics discuss mental health treatment, its availability, it effectiveness, and just how cost effective it truly is to treat those in prisons and jails. This valuable text provides a broad interdisciplinary view of the topic and presents important qualitative and quantitative research of specific topics, such as the effectiveness of prisoner representatives, the causal link between incarceration and mental illness, and the expanding rates of correctional offenders with mental illness. Mental Health Issues in the Criminal Justice System discusses a wide range of pertinent topics focusing on the viability and functioning of mental health treatment models in prisons and jails. Recommendations on desired correctional mental health programs are presented, along with strategies to better provide therapeutic services. Respected experts provide practical suggestions on research that needs to be addressed in the future. The book is extensively referenced and includes several tables and figures to clearly present data. Other topics in Mental Health Issues in the Criminal Justice System include: the prevalence of mental illness in jails and prisons—and the duty society has to provide appropriate mental health treatment three components critical to the success of jail diversion programs ethics of doing research on prisoners an extended care community corrections model the experience of mitigation experts in first degree murder cases in the penalty phase of the trial the criminalization of the mentally ill because of fragmentation of mental health services correctional offenders with mental illness (OMIs)—and their differences from the general offender population the role of the helping alliance in juvenile probation settings and much more! Mental Health Issues in the Criminal Justice System is a timely, insightful text for anyone in the criminal justice or mental health fields, educators, graduate students, and upper-level undergraduate students.

For a myriad of reasons the criminal justice system has become the de facto mental health system, with the three largest inpatient psychiatric institutions in America being jails¿not hospitals. This book explores how and why this is the case. Sensationalized cases often drive criminal justice policies that can sometimes be impulsively enacted and misguided. While there is a chapter that examines the insanity defense and competency, the primary focus of the book is on the bulk of cases that clog the criminal justice system with persons with mental illnesses (pwmi). Criminal justice practitioners are often ill-equipped for dealing with pwmi in crises, and this may even result in the emergence of mental disabilities for criminal justice professionals. However, via application of therapeutic jurisprudence principles some agencies are better preparing their employees for such encounters and attempting to stop the inhumane and costly recycling of pwmi through the criminal justice system. Coverage runs the gamut from specialized law enforcement responses, to mental health courts, to jails and prisons, to discharge planning, diversion, re-entry, and outpatient commitment. Also, criminal justice practitioners in their own words provide insight into and examples of the interface between the mental health and criminal justice systems. Throughout the book the balance between maintaining public safety and preserving civil liberties is considered as the state's police power and parens patriae roles are examined. Lastly, collaborative approaches for influencing and informing policies that are often driven by crises are discussed.

The Criminalization of Mental Illness Reader is an indispensable accompaniment to the second and future additions of the Criminalization of Mental Illness text. The contributors to the reader, who include some of the most expert and renowned scholars in the field, expand on key ideas in the text for comprehensive coverage of issues related to people with mental illness who are justice-involved. These include correlates of offending among people with mental illness; how criminal justice system actors respond, both desirably and otherwise, to people with mental illness; the media¿s role in shaping perceptions of people with mental illness who are justice-involved; and, finally, what we can be done more effectively to reverse the process of criminalization of this group.