Criminology
One of America's largest problems today is the situation with the Mentally Ill and their effects on our Criminal Justice system. Ever since the deinstitutionalization of mental hospitals, our prisons have become a gathering pool for mentally ill as they are mis-diagnosed or perhaps not diagnosed at all. They become a burden not only on our prison system, but on the economy as well as they often return to the prisons and stay longer. Many law enforcement agencies around the country are beginning to implement programs to counteract what has been happening for the past thirty years. "1. Persistent mental disorder or derangement. No longer used 2. Law. Unsoundness of mind sufficient in the judgment of a civil court to render a person unfit to maintain a contractual or other legal relationship or to warrant commitment to a mental health facility." (Webster 1996) The McNaughton Rule which is used in approximately half of the states to define insanity is as follows: 1. The defendant was suffering from 'a defect of reason, from a disease of the mind.' 2. As a result, the defendant did not 'know' the 'nature and quality of the act he was doing.'
The bottom line is that the programs must build new system linkages, view the detainees as citizens, and hold the community responsible for the services needed by the detainees. Another strategy is America's Law Enforcement and Mental Health Act which was introduced in July. It seeks to help local communities to establish mental health courts in order to direct nonviolent mentally ill offenders out of jail and into long term treatment. Mental health courts are effective at reducing the recidivism of seriously mentally ill offenders because they use the power of the criminal justice court to ensure that the defendants receive long term mental health treatment. Misdemeanor defendants who are determined to be seriously mentally ill are offered treatment in lieu of jail. The Mental Health Early Intervention, Treatment, and Prevention Act of 2000 was introduced to help fulfill the unkept promise of the Community Mental Health Act of 1963 by providing grants to communities fo! · Mentally ill offenders are generally repeat offenders, incarcerated ten times or more for minor crimes and misdemeanors. (California Research Bureau, calif. Sate library 2/1999) · Mentally ill offenders display aggressive violent behavior, have long histories of institutionalization, and/or exhibit a diminished ability to function independently in jail or other detention settings. (Silver 2000) 1. All relevant mental health, substance abuse and criminal justice agencies were involved from the start. ried out to determine whether the defendant knew 'what he was doing was wrong' (Ogloff, Roberts & Roesch, 1993) · Annual cost to police and sheriff's department is estimated to be $45 million and $160 million respectively, $605 million total
Some common words found in the essay are:
Durham Test, Research Bureau, Health Act, Jail Diversion, CAI R-CRAS, Daycare Center, Jay Ziskin, Criminal Justice, County Jail, McNaughton Rule, mentally ill, mental health, criminal justice, justice system, criminal justice system, mental health services, health services, mentally ill offenders, mental illness, ill offenders, law enforcement, mental hospitals, mental health courts, health courts, community-based mental health,
Approximate Word count = 2419
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)
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