The Medicalization of Deviance and Overview of Mental Health Courts

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).

In this society there are many people who suffer from mental illness and others who are deviants. Although many confuse mental illness with deviance they are both very different things that can be related with each other due to the fact that having a mental illness is not normal and being deviant is also not normal. There are many criminals who would be considered deviants. Several theories of deviance seem to describe these types of people. There is the control, differential-association, labeling, psychological and strain theories that may determine why criminals chose to act in deviant ways. Serial killers such as John Wayne Gacy fall into some of the theories of deviance. The theories John Wayne Gacy falls into are the control theory

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

Throughout history society has had many views on individuals with physical and health needs, consequently impacting the way they live. In the article, “The Discovery of Hyperkinesis: Notes on the Medicalization of Deviant Behavior,” it discuses the Pharmaceutical Revolution, and how psychoactive drugs were being produced to suppress, what society felt, was deviant behavior (Conrad, 1975). This article is a good example of how society has created ‘disabilities’ for people with health needs. The article also expresses how children who act out, or have parents and schools members feeling they are exhibiting deviant behaviors, are considered to have medical conditions. Many people in today’s society don’t have the time or patience to learn about individuals with physical and health needs, thus giving the medical world more control over, ‘disability.’

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.

Mental health courts are a resource given to prisoners who would normally be put in prison if they had not decided to join this special program. Mental health court is a court run program by the district attorney’s office in some counties. This program is based off of traditional court room structure but is also paired with community services. Mental health courts solve a lot of different problems within our criminal justice system. The first problem it solves is the

A Mental Health Court represents a type of therapeutic court that sanctions the mental health population a different level of treatment and opportunities from the “normal” population. The difference between a mental health court and a regular court is that in a mental health court, they are not as concerned with whether somebody is not guilty or guilty of the offense, rather, they are focused on the individual. The Mental Health Court demonstrates compassion and empathy, while still upholding the law. In fact, focus stands as therapeutic interventions as opposed to punishments. The goal is to reconnect clients with a case manager, manage medication and treatment options, and generate stability. Going through the court process, and possible

In terms of illness being “deviant,” the concept of medicalization has become important in the study of deviance when looking at the debates surrounding the “sick world” and the insanity defense. Some people try to use the

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

86). The Correctional Health Care/Mental Health Services program was designed to not only deter individuals from entering the criminal justice system, but also to offer assistance to offenders while they are still in prison. The help they receive will provide multiple benefits including how to reenter the community appropriately, and conduct your self in an ethical manner. This program provides positive effects on those who are in the program and they tend to live quality lives as long as they stay on the right

The overall perception of the community is to reduce recidivism among the mentally ill. In effort to resolve this problem several stakeholders such as Durham County judges, District attorney, mental health agency, LME (Alliance Behavioral Healthcare) sheriff department, county commissioner, social workers, evaluators, Criminal Justice Resource Center, board members and Stepping Up Initiative have gathered to develop a resolve for this issues due to Durham county spending substantial amounts of money on evaluations and housing these individuals in jail. They have discussed solution of developing mental health courts and ensuring that first contact for identified individuals with mental illnesses is not jail, assessing individuals when first

Medicalization describes a process through which largely social issues may be redefined as medical problems, thus increasing the jurisdiction of medicine. Critics argue that medicalization is a strategy for extending professional dominance and/or institutionalized social control. Some suggest that medical social control ensures social cohesion by focusing on curing and containing diseases that could otherwise disrupt life. Bury (1991) discusses not only the inadequacy of the biomedical model but also of all one-dimensional sociological models of illness and disability labels. Broom and Woodward (1996) cite positive aspects of medicalization for individuals, such as validation, a sense of relief, and support. They explicate the utility of distinguishing between "over-medicalization," which is typically viewed as negative, and "constructive medicalization." A reversal, or process of demedicalization (R. Fox, 1994), can also occur—for example, the redefinition of homosexuality from a mental illness to a lifestyle choice.

If society does not have any means of enforcing its norms, then that means anyone can do anything he/she wants. Without laws, society will become anarchy. An example is a murderer breaking the law and killing another human being for religious purposes. He will experience negative sanctions. He will either be on the run, in detention, or facing capital punishment. Because of possible circumstances, sanctions are necessary. Medicalization of deviance means to make deviance a medical matter; a symptom of some underlying illness that needs to be treated by physicians. Certain acts of deviance can be a sign of mental illness: Rape, murder, stealing, cheating and so on. Mental illness can stand for illogical thinking process. Thomas Szasz argues that “mental illnesses are neither mental nor illnesses. They are simply problem behaviors.” The problem with his theory is behavior results from thinking. Before a person is raped, the rapist contemplates about the most efficient way to rape someone. His contemplation or thinking process happened before his behavior. Another example is adultery. Whenever someone commits adultery, the person is aroused by sexual thoughts first. Subsequently, the act or behavior of adultery proceeds after the thoughts. My own analyses of stories that had been told to me helped lead me to this conclusion. The thoughts are the causes which lead to the effects: the behavior. White collar crime is crime committed by

Both biological and psychological approaches seem to focus on the individual themselves and their personalities. Much of the social conditions and life situation are not under consideration. They tend to blame the individual for their deviant behavior and while encouraging stereotyping, affect public policy. The consideration of deviance is overlooked as a social

As times progressed a growing knowledge and understanding of mental illness and psychiatric problems became more of a deciding factor in the task of determining just and effective dispositions. The criminal justice system is not equipped to provide the proper type of facilitation needed to accommodate. Instead judges and lawyers reached out to community mental health agencies but they too were unable to adequately provide resources needed. According to Gary Whitmer (1983) resulting from this dilemma the courts adjudicate with a sense of futility, knowing that it is not the