Medicalization of Deviance
Medicalization of deviance can be described as a method of classifying behaviors, not of the norm of society, as a mental illness requiring treatment. The blame for the unwanted behavior shifts from the fault of the person to the illness because they lack the capacity to control their behaviors (Owen, Fradella and Burke). It has helped better allocate consequences for individuals who commit a crime. Rather than punishing them with penal social control, it opts to sentence them with therapeutic social control where they can receive proper treatment for the illness.
There is, however, controversy that surrounds this topic. A common defense plea associated with medicalization is the insanity plea, which focuses on the state of mind of an individual during the crime. In the case of Nick Horner, an Iraqi
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The cost to send an offender through the mental health courts can cost on average $4,000 (American Psychiatric Association, 2014). Participants in these programs may require longer treatments and multiple resources in order to improve their chance of recovery. This can be considered positive for society as research has shown that offenders who go through these programs are less likely to reoffend.
Other backlash has risen as medicalization of deviance is becoming more prevalent in cases. Society argues that individuals are being given the opportunity to use science as a means to excuse their deviant behaviors. Advocates for this argument believe persons should have consequences for their actions and with that is penal social control. Another aspect that critics argue is with the increase of mental illness diagnoses, there is an undertone of a profit motive for the pharmaceutical industry (Owen, Fradella and Burke). Drug companies stand to earn a growing profit as the number of mental illness diagnoses