The Care of Mentally Disordered Offenders Essay
These mentally disordered offenders require services and support of the Forensic Mental Health Services since they have a complex and diverse requirement. The special provisions of the Prison service scheme play a significant role in addressing the special needs of the mentally disordered victims and their treatment.
The mainly mentally disordered offence is caused and manifested by poverty and deprivation and racial discrimination. The victimization of people also induces mental illness which might manifest offending. The Care of Mentally Disordered Offenders Essay. Even psychological disorders and incoherent and absurd imaginations lead to the manifestation of crimes. An example of ethnic discrimination to cause mental disorders is seen in the case of the South London, where the Black population, due to the racial antagonism, are subjected to greater schizophrenic disorders and are more likely to commit a crime than the average white population (Guite, 2003).
Criminal behavior is fundamental to the explanation of antisocial personality disorder, even though it is often the result of earlier and long-standing difficulties, like socioeconomic, educational and family troubles. Individuals with the antisocial personality disorder show signs of traits of impulsivity, a huge rate of negative emotionality, low carefulness and related behaviours including negligent and exploitative behaviour, recklessness and untrustworthiness. The Care of Mentally Disordered Offenders Essay.
ORDER A PLAGIARISM-FREE PAPER NOW
With states closing many of its mental facilities in the communities, there were a lot of people in need of outpatient care who fell through the cracks of the system and ended up in prison. Prison is where many of them died from inadequate treatment. Prisons were suddenly receiving inmates with the following types of mental illnesses: Schizophrenia, bipolar, and deep depressions. These prisons just did not provide these inmates with any medication during their incarceration. Because the community based health services is lacking, and patients aren’t receiving sufficient outpatient care, it makes the effectiveness of deinstitutionalization a serious problem. The Care of Mentally Disordered Offenders Essay. Without the availability of 24/7 psychiatric services that are well structured, I believe that deinstitutionalization is what is accounting for the increase of the mentally ill inmates in the correctional facility.
Incarcerating the Mentally Ill While most people are concerned and want violent offenders punished and thrown in prison (which is a valid concern), it is rare that violent acts are committed by the mentally ill. For those crimes the mentally ill commits, prison may not always be the right answer; instead, proper treatment and rehabilitation would be much better. In general, the statement has always been made that the
The Treatment of Mentally Ill Offenders
There is a major issue with the mental health treatment in our society. With much of America increasingly being diagnosed with a mental illness, it is still a much stigmatized disease. It is estimated that one out of every five Americans have been diagnosed with a mental disorder ranging from mild to severe. Yet, the extent of therapy and support programs available for the mentally ill is considerably insufficient. Deinstitutionalization ultimately had a negative impact on our society and was responsible in criminalizing the mentally ill. It is essential that adequate care and rehabilitation be provided and made more easily accessible in the community to ensure the health and safety of the mentally ill
On average, twenty percent of inmates in jails and fifteen percent of inmates in prisons have been diagnosed with a serious mental illness (Z. K. Torrey).The Care of Mentally Disordered Offenders Essay. In comparison, there are ten times less mentally ill individuals residing in psychiatric institutions than there are in prisons. The fact that the correctional system has become the primary treatment for the mentally ill should be deeply concerning to not only those affected by mental illness, but all of
This is especially likely to happen to inmates suffering from mental illness, either as a form of punishment or for the protection of themselves and other inmates. Their time in solitary confinement can bring about a whole other set of complications and consequences. Being secluded from other people for an extended period of time will presumably exacerbate their current illness as well as produce additional problems with their mental health. Solitude for the mentally ill increases the already high possibility of these inmates committing acts of self-harm or even suicide. In fact, suicide is the leading cause of death in prisons and jails; the majority of these suicides are being carried out by inmates with untreated mental illness (Fuller Torrey).
Ultimately, the correctional system is not designed to be a therapeutic environment; although there is mental health treatment available for some inmates, correctional institutions do not have the adequate staffing nor resources to properly treat the mentally ill at that level . The Care of Mentally Disordered Offenders Essay.