Kid Death Row

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

An unfortunate reality in today’s society is the gross overrepresentation of persons with mental illness in the criminal justice system. According to Teplin (1984), persons with mental illness have been found to be almost twice as likely as individuals without any known mental illness to be arrested for their behavior in similar situations. Furthermore, several other studies have even shown that roughly half of all persons with a mental illness have been arrested at least once in their lifetime (Solomon & Draine, 1995; Walsh & Bricourt, 2003). Although these statistics seem to further support the common belief among many citizens that mentally ill persons are dangerous criminals, research indicates that the mentally ill are more often arrested for nonviolent minor charges (Cuellar, Snowden, & Ewing, 2007). Not surprisingly, a considerable portion of individuals within the criminal justice population have a diagnosable mental illness. According to Ditton (1999), 7% of federal inmates, 16% of state inmates, and 16% of jail inmates have a mental illness. These percentages may be inflated because persons with mental illness tend to spend longer periods of time in custody than those without a mental illness. Perhaps the greatest indication of the brokenness of the system is the fact that there are more mentally ill persons in jails and prisons today than in public psychiatric hospitals (Lamb& Bachrach, 2001). In fact, according to the

Criminals with mental disorders should be held accountable for their actions and receive adequate punishment up to and including the death penalty. If they’re well enough to commit the crime that someone without a mental disorder can commit they should get the same punishment. Inmates with mental disorders are more likely to disrupt day to day prison activity, leading to needing more and more prison guards to keep the order. An estimated 283,000 prisoners are spared from death row because of a mental disorder. With that information it isn’t hard to believe that there is a big problem with overcrowding and over population. Not every single inmate is

For some passions is even worse do to the fact they don’t have any type of memory of their crime that they have done. Prisons are not really set up for ill people. More the half the prison population is of inmates with some type of illness. It is a sad reality that many don’t see. In every county jail there are more mentally ill then in a hospital. There has been many criminalization’s with the mentally ill. No one should be punished for having an illness instead they should be cured like any other person in need. Jail is not the answer in this situation dealing with someone that can not control their actions. Being in jail psychotic it’s a leaving hell. This is not an easy situation considering that the majority can not handle it. People with mental illness should be more kept watched at then the usual. Theirs a huge level in need that no one can turn their back to

This legal issue addresses how police services are being given very little training into circumstances involving mentally ill perpetrators and examines how and why they are given no formal screening process in identifying those who have a mental disorder.

It has long been acknowledged that an offender who as a result to mental disorder, is incapable of understanding the nature and quality of a criminal act, or of recognizing that it was wrong, should not be convicted. Bill C-54 the Not Criminally Responsible Reform Act deals with the accused who has been found Criminally Responsible because of mental disorder. Not Criminally Responsible (NCR) is defined in Section 16 of the Canadian Criminal Code, stating that if someone is deemed NCR he or she cannot be held accountable for the offence they’ve committed, merely if at that time they were suffering through a mental disorder. The Bill will enact three main factors which will affect the mental disorder regime

Do you think a GBMI offender’s mental illness is more likely to become worse if they are sentenced to prison? If yes, do you think courts should stop sending mentally ill offenders to a real prison and send them to psychiatric facilities only?

Mental illnesses are extremely pricy and dangerous. The staff has to be extra cautions with mentally disabled prisoners because they are more dangerous. The prison system does not have enough money to be able to maintain high-risk prisoners. “The average cost of keeping an older inmate incarcerated is about $69,000 a year”(Regan) it’s an outrageous amount of money. A Tennessee State prison gave Dr. Regan, Alderson, and Dr. William Regan gave data on older inmates who had mental illnesses. The study focused on the population and their mental disorder and the crime committed. 671 prisoners where tested in the study and 109 people where diagnosed with a mental illness: Out of the 109 people with a mental disorder only 13% where women and 87% where men. The most common crime for both genders with a mental disorder was murder. Women who committed murder suffered from depression illness. Men who committed crime in their older age committed sex crimes and where diagnosed with dementia. Our prisons are not equipped to be able to handle mentally disable prisoners. Mentally disorder people need to be in a mental house that can help them. It is not right to incarcerate someone who is sick.

"A person is not responsible for criminal conduct if at the time of such conduct as a result of mental disease or

Course Video Critique 4: The New Asylums Summary: In the video, “The New Asylums,” explains the ever growing problem of mentally ill inmates are entering in prisons as the solution rather than mental hospitals. Prisons remain the only solution for the mentally ill due to the ability to keep them from harming the community or being involved in criminal activity. Unlike normal inmates, sometimes mentally ill inmates may refuse to cooperate with the prison officials and thus force may be required to put them into submission.

While I was aware of the challenges facing the mentally ill prisoners, I was not aware of the true extent of these challenges prior to this course. First of all, I found the treatment of the mentally ill in prison challenging to accept; especially because this harsh treatment is indicative of the larger social stigma that surrounds this vulnerable population. Furthermore, I believe transinstitutionalism’s popularity and rise provides valuable insight into the criminalisation of mental illness and as a result, the exacerbation of the challenges that this vulnerable population faces.

Care and treatment for the Mentally Disordered Offender (MDO) has always reflected society’s intolerance and punitive attitude, typified by a desire to remove persons with mental illness from public sight (Gostin, 1983). Traditionally, health care for this population was provided in institutions until the 1950s. De-institutionalisation and large-scale closures of psychiatric institutes in the 1980s resulted from therapeutic advancement and the advent of psychotropic medication, which in turn led to a need to provide care and treatment in the least restrictive setting (Geller et al, 2006 ; Morrow e al 2003). Many patients were discharged,

The people whom have a mental health issue and choose not to go and seek treatment put their life in danger as well as with the people they are surrounded with. In an article called “Involuntary Commitment of People with Mental Illness: Should states

While being convicted of a crime and sentenced to be incarcerated is difficult for everyone, for disabled inmates being locked up is even more challenging. Unfortunately, disabled prisoners often get placed into solitary confinement and this has many devastating effects on the individual, especially when they can’t perform life’s basic daily tasks. Instead, disabled prisoners are typically punished, overlooked, or ignored. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics 1 in 5 prisoners have a serious mental illness and these people are four to six times as likely to report having a disability than the general population.

A 12 year old boy has murdered a 17 year month old baby. But the issue is he charged as a adult or as a child? The boy would be charged with murder and have life in jail. The courts are found in a tough situation with the kid. But a 12 year old boy is still growing and developing so to send him to life in jail would be a little excessive. I do think that the boy should be punished but not forgotten about. He is still young which means that he can still be influenced so what should happen is that he gets the proper help to lead him in the right way. Sending a 12 year old to life is giving the child no hope and no chance to get the proper help he may need.