Mental Health Court

Recidivism, or committing additional crimes in the future, has been reduced greatly for participants in these courts. A study conducted in 2011 of veterans who completed the programs from eleven of the fourteen veterans treatment courts at the time showed a recidivism rate of less than 2%, while the recidivism rate for state prisoners was almost 70%. Another benefit is that these courts lower crime rates as they help veterans become law-abiding, productive citizens. Finally, veterans treatment courts help to save tax payer’s money as the cost of the program is less than 10% the cost of imprisoning someone. The cost of the program is covered by federal money, so states do not have to incur any additional financial burden (Frederick,

As a whole, literature on the topic of mental illness in our country and specifically in our criminal justice system had a reoccurring theme. There are millions of individuals who suffer from mental illness but are improperly being handled through the criminal justice system. These individuals are deemed criminal just by their acts and their mental health state is not overly examine. Jails and prisons are being overcrowded. State prisons and jails are overpopulated anywhere from 15 to 32% (Spending Money in All the Wrong Places: Jails & Prisons).

Despite the fact that my parents have worked in the criminal justice system for many years, I have never given much thought to the treatment of prisoners. As we learned from the readings, the current state of the United States criminal justice system is imperfect to the point of cruelty to those involved in it. This is truer for individuals with a mental illness. Due to a lack of psychiatric facilities throughout Alabama and overcrowding of those that do exist, many criminal offenders with mental illnesses are sent to prisons instead. State prisons are currently overcrowded, leading to substandard conditions such in almost every aspect.

Given the number of incarcerated inmates who suffer from some form of mental illness, there are growing concerns and questions in the medical field about treatment of the mentally ill in the prison system. When a person with a mental illness commits a crime or break the law, they are immediately taken to jail or sent off to prison instead of being evaluated and placed in a hospital or other mental health facility. “I have always wondered if the number of mentally ill inmates increased since deinstitutionalization” Since prison main focus is on the crimes inmates are incarcerated; the actual treatment needed for the mentally ill is secondary. Mentally ill prisoners on the surface may appear to be just difficult inmates depending on the

There are some differences between a normal criminal and a criminal that suffers from a mental illness in the criminal justice system. For example one of the many fundamentals to our criminal justice system is the principle that no one can be tried or adjudged to punishment while mentally incompetent. Trials for mentally unstable people have been modified and are run by different guidelines. Unlike a regular convict, most mentally unstable convicts are unable to comprehend or are unable to complete a trial. Once a convict with a mental illness is convicted or awaiting trail their every medical need must be accommodated within the faculty and it's staff. Without the proper medical care a person with mental illness can become

The recent increase in emergency 9-1-1 calls involving mentally ill persons has heightened the awareness of the Criminal Justice System. Across the nation, law enforcement encounters with mentally ill persons have become more frequent, and the use of deadly force against mentally ill persons has increased. Since the deinstitutionalization of the mental health system, law enforcement officials have been tasked with controlling deviant and sometimes criminal behavior of persons who suffer from mental illness. As a result, law enforcement agencies have implemented crisis intervention training (CIT) and diversion tactics due to the numerous challenges faced when serving the mentally ill. Major deficiencies in the mental health system and State legislations have hindered progressive efforts towards assisting mentally ill persons. With the dramatic consequences associated with untreated mental illness, it is certain that law enforcement officers will experience an encounter requiring knowledge, specialized training, and the ability to build collaborative partnerships.

A mental health counselor has come a long way to provide service for people or clients who are in need of mental health service. Today, more people are suffering with depression, which they result of alcohol and drug misuse to help them forget the pain they are feeling. As a result, alcohol and drug abuse lead to impairment of judgement which may guide to criminal activity and harsh punishment. Due to ignorant or no knowledge of mental health service, judges normally lock people away who have committed to such crimes instead of sending them to an alcohol and drug abuse center or hospital for treatment. For this reason, once an inmate is released back into society, they go back to using drugs and commits a crime and lock away in prison causing

Jail diversion is a mental health platform explicitly premeditated to isolate and divert individuals with mental health, substance abuse disorders or both from the criminal justice system into a need-specific treatment in the mental health system. Specifically, the program provides linkages to community-based treatment and support services to assist the individual in reducing deviant behavior. For this reason, the individuals avoid arrests and spend a lesser period in jail. The effectiveness of the diversion program relies on various activities that involve the identification of the target group and a proper integration of the victim into the program. While there are many different types of jail diversion programs the accessibility to jail diversion programs are limited, due to the strict qualification guidelines set. In addition, the availability of appropriate mental health professionals is paramount to the efficiency of the program. It is a common belief that linking mentally ill offenders to Community-Based Services decrease their chances of recidivism and contact with security officers (Sirotich, 2009).

The United States criminal justice system has been continuously increasing incarceration among individuals who suffer from a sever mental illness. As of 2007 individuals with severe mental illness were over twice as likely to be found in prisons than in society (National Commission of Correctional Health Care, 2002, as cited in Litschge &Vaughn, 2009). The offenses that lead to their commitment in a criminal facility, in the majority of cases, derive from symptoms of their mental illness instead of deviant behavior. Our criminal justice system is failing those who would benefit more from the care of a psychiatric rehabilitation facility or psychiatric hospital by placing them in correctional facilities or prisons.

I visited the treatment court presided over by the Honorable Judge John Brown, who has been with treatment court for the past 3 years. Treatment court is a bi lateral contract between the defendant and the State of Montana where the court provides an avenue for willing participants to integrate themselves back into society, it is an alternative to traditional sentencing where substance abuse is a motivating factor for the offender’s criminal behavior. The five fundamentals of treatment court are as follows, sobriety, responsibility, honesty, integrity, and service. During the 18-month program participants are required to abstain from using any mind-altering substances, they must also report any substance uses to the

Over the past ten years, there has been continued argument regarding the effects of mental health courts on recidivism. Some researchers believes that it is only effective in the short term, but ineffective in the long-term. This implies that the criminals with mental health problem who undergoes through mental health court have a tendency of increasing their criminal behavior after the jail period, rather than correcting their behavior (Wolff, Fabrikant & Belenko, 2011). Other researchers refute this assertion by claiming that the mental health courts usually offer a long-term success on recidivism. Therefore, this research intends to find out the validity of the researchers argument.

Mental health court are similar to the regular criminal law courts, but they are created to get help for the people who have mental health related issues that break laws (Mental Health Court, n.d.). In one of the videos on Kentrell and Kenneth’s court hearing, their probation

This research paper discusses the issues of people who suffer from mental illness being placed in jails instead of receiving the necessary treatment they need. The number of inmates serving time in jail or prison who suffer from mental illness continues to rise. In 2015 the Bureau of Justice reported that sixty five percent of state prisoners and fourth five percent of federal prisoners suffered from mental conditions such as bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Individuals who suffer from these problems require special mental health treatment for their needs to be met. Many of our prisons and jails lack the necessary resources to care for these inmates and because of that inmates who do not receive the treatment they need are at a higher risk of becoming a repeat offender. Despite the research and findings that show that the criminal justice system is unable to deal with issues dealing with the mentally ill there has been limited solutions put in place. Given the challenges the criminal justice system faces it is important to address the problem and come up with better solutions. This research paper will discuss the various techniques and solutions that scholars have propped and their effect on the issue of mentally ill criminals and how the criminal justice system should approach the problem.

Jails have been described as “de facto mental hospitals” because they have filled the void created when state psychiatric hospitals began closing in the early 1960s through a process known as deinstitutionalization. Supporters of deinstitutionalization thought the process would help individuals suffering from a mental illness live more self-reliantly while being treated by community mental health programs. However, the federal government did not provide the necessary funding to meet the mounting demand for these programs, leaving numerous untreated. Individuals with serious mental illnesses are often poor or homeless and are likely to have substance abuse problems. Therefore, when they are left untreated, they are more likely to commit minor crimes that have been the focus of law enforcement in recent years (H. Richard Lamb and Linda Weinberger).

For this upcoming research project, I want to focus on the use of mental health courts and the characteristics that make them successful. Since the deinstitutionalization movement of the 1960’s there has been a push to get mentally ill patients back into the community and out of psychiatric hospitals. This was done under the belief that the community would take care of them, but since this movement, there has been a sharp increase in the criminalization of the mentally ill. It is estimated that “2 million people with mental illness are booked into jails each year…[and] the vast majority of the individuals are not violent criminals” since they are either waiting for trial or “serving short sentences for minor crimes” (NAMI). Within this system