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Handling Mentally Disordered

Author: Janet Peter
by Janet Peter
Posted: Dec 21, 2018
criminal justice

1. Discuss the legal rules and regulations how the criminal justice system (the police, the prosecutor, the court, and the correction) to deal with the mentally disordered people who violate the law or commit a crime. On arrest, the police do not usually arrest the people with mental illness more frequently compared to others who commit similar offenses. The law requires the police to go slow in arresting the mentally ill persons and when they arrest it is because they have not identified the illness. In the case of parole in the United States, Hiday and Moloney (2014) say that there is a greater willingness for intervention in the absence of a new offense and to continue with the breach of charge with the aim of preventing the likelihood of re-offending. Also, in the US, there have been a number of diversions regarding on the way to handle the mental disorder offenders including the Integrated Dual Diagnosis treatment, specialty probation, and jail diversion. The court also comes in to determine the duration of treatment for the medically ill offenders. Recently, the Justice System of Los Angeles came up with a new law enforcement concept that incorporates the approaches like cutting-edge crime analysis, intelligence-lead policing, and crime fighting technology to inform forward-thinking crime prevention techniques and tactics. (2) Discuss the legal issues on handling the mentally disordered offenders in the criminal justice system – from the police to the correction/prison. During the time of arresting a criminal, the police are supposed to determine if the offender is mentally ill or sane. The law of mental illness states that the if a defense is to be established on the basis of insanity, it should be clearly proven that when the crime was being committed, the state of mind of the accused meant that they were not aware of what they were doing (Vogel, Stephens, & Siebels, 2014). In case the arresting is done before a criminal is judged in court or rather sentenced, they must be thoroughly assessed by the criminal justice to determine their mental sanity. In case the defense of the insanity is successful in a legal case, it does not mean that the offender is free of the system. Their situation is further reviewed by the tribunal to determine whether the person needs to be released to the community and under what conditions. (3) Discuss the ethical issues associated with the criminal justice system while handling the mentally disordered offenders.The number of the mentally ill people confined in jails has been increasing over the past many decades. What has been witnessed is the lack of proper analysis of the mentally ill persons thereby leading to their harassment and other maltreatment practices. Also, the mentally ill persons have not been accessing the mental health services, and this expedites their problems. Also, the criminal justice system has not put in place the appropriate services that can help confront the behaviors that make the mentally ill persons come into contact with the criminal justice system (Munthe, Radovic, & Anckarsäter, 2010). Sometimes also a person may be depressed or have a mental problem while committing a crime, but when they are being sentenced they may be okay, and this is because of the lack of proper assessment of the offender based on their state at the time of committing the crime.(4) Your feedback and solutions to the issues of handling the mentally disordered offenders in the criminal justice systemFor one, there is a need for community-based mental health services to help prevent recidivism since prevention is better than cure. The criminal justice practitioners should also be provided with adequate resources that will help them to confront the issues that are related to the assessment, prosecution, and sentencing of the mentally ill persons. There is also need to offer more intensive care services, especially in communities with the aim of helping the mentally ill people to lead functional lives. Also, within the criminal justice system, there is a need for policymakers and practitioners to develop new means on how to collaborate with other community institutions to analyze, diagnose, and also respond effectively to the involvement of the mentally ill people in criminal activities. ReferencesHiday, V. A., & Moloney, M. E. (2014). Mental illness and the criminal justice system. The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Health, Illness, Behavior, and SocietyMunthe, C., Radovic, S., & Anckarsäter, H. (2010). Ethical issues in forensic psychiatric research on mentally disordered offenders. Bioethics, 24(1), 35-44.Vogel, M., Stephens, K. D., & Siebels, D. (2014). Mental illness and the criminal justice system. Sociology Compass, 8(6), 627-638.

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Janet Peter

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