Download The Criminalization of Mental Illness Chapter One

The Criminalization of
Mental Illness
Chapter One
Introduction
Copyright © 2013 Carolina Academic Press
Ernest Hemingway said:
• “The world breaks everyone and afterward
many are strong at the broken places.”
• Why might the beginning chapter of the book
be started off with this quote?
Copyright © 2013 Carolina Academic Press
• One in four individuals has a diagnosable mental
illness over the span of a year
• Approximately 6% have a serious mental illness
• The following “serious” or “severe” mental illnesses
are the primary focus of the text:
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Schizophrenia
Schizoaffective Disorder
Bipolar Disorder
Major Depressive Disorder with psychotic features
Copyright © 2013 Carolina Academic Press
Schizophrenia
• Hallucinations (false sensory perceptions, which can affect
any of the 5 senses)
• Delusions (a fixed, false belief held despite impossibility)
• Cognitive disorganization (a cluster of symptoms
considered to be the most noticeable to others, such as
“word salad”)
• “Negative symptoms” (labeled as such because they
represent an absence of experiences that most people
without schizophrenia have and/or the individual
experienced prior to the onset of his/her illness.
Copyright © 2013 Carolina Academic Press
Anosognosia (can also accompany
schizophrenia as well as other mental illnesses)
is described as:
a lack of insight into one’s illness
Many of those with mental illness do not realize they
are ill.
Copyright © 2013 Carolina Academic Press
Bipolar Disorder (it is estimated that
2.5% of the population will receive this
diagnosis) can include
• Mania
• Depression
• Psychotic symptoms characterized by
defective or lost contact with reality especially
as evidenced by delusions, hallucinations, and
disorganized speech and behavior.
Copyright © 2013 Carolina Academic Press
Major Depressive Disorder
• Characterized by extreme lows, although
there is no manic component.
• Approximately 7% of adults will be diagnosed
with MDD, while 30% of these are considered
severe.
Copyright © 2013 Carolina Academic Press
•
Being atavistic refers to being a throwback to an earlier evolutionary stage,
primitive, or animalistic in nature.
•
Phrenology (was the primitive process of studying bumps on the head to
identify malformations of the brain that might be linked to crime; a concept
practiced within the Positive School of Criminology founded by Cesare
Lombroso).
•
Physiognomy (was the primitive process of judging character by facial
features).
•
Criminals/persons with mental illness have been perceived as “toxic waste.”
•
Law enforcement and jails have served a cleansing, social sanitation role.
•
Social sanitation has been a process of sweeping the unsightly rabble, those
unable to adapt, off the streets and putting them out of sight and out of mind.
•
According to Wahl, PWMI are not typically physically different in appearance
from persons without mental illness.
Copyright © 2013 Carolina Academic Press
The three largest inpatient psychiatric facilities in the United
States are jails.
•
Los Angeles County Jail
•
Rikers Island, New York
•
Cook County Jail, Chicago
The largest inpatient psychiatric institution in your home state is
very likely a jail or prison.
More PWMI are residing in jails and prisons today than in public
psychiatric hospitals.
Trans-institutionalization refers to the movement of persons with
mental illnesses from the mental health to the criminal justice
system.
Copyright © 2013 Carolina Academic Press
Traditionally criminal justice practitioners have been
largely untrained and ill-equipped to deal with persons
with mental illnesses in crises.
While recidivism rates are high for offenders in general,
PWMI who repeatedly recycle through the criminal
justice system are often referred to as “frequent flyers.”
Although most PWMI who have contact with the CJ
system are not violent, research verifies that individuals
with mental illnesses have a tendency to remain in
custody for longer periods of time than those persons
brought in on similar charges who are not mentally ill.
Copyright © 2013 Carolina Academic Press
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