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Mental Health Court Case Analysis

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I. Problem Failure to provide successful treatment alternatives to the deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill and the unequal opportunity to receive proper mental health care treatment in the U.S has resulted in the overrepresentation of the mentally ill in U.S jails and prisons. Mental health courts have shown they reduce recidivism, long term treatment plans over incarceration, as sentenced by traditional criminal courts is a clear step in the right direction. (National Alliance on Mental Illness, 2008)The expansion and creation of more mental health courts in necessary. However, there is need for improvements in the innovation to better serve their clients ethically and effectively. II. Evidence A. The need for mental health …show more content…

Mental health courts have issues that need to be addressed, these issues include : • Informal selection criteria: A research study conducted by Nancy Wolff, Nichole Fabrikant and Steven Belenko (2011) suggest that clients selected by mental health courts are shaped by the formal and informal selection criteria” (Wolff, Fabrikant, Belenko, 2011,p. 402) • Voluntariness/Requirements: A research study conducted by Allison Redlich, Steven Hoover, Alicia Summers and Henry ( 2010) conducted a research study a found that a significant number of mental health court clients were not informed of the requirements for mental health courts or that they were voluntary (Redlich, Hoover, Summers & Steadman, 2010) • Guilty Plea: The majority of mental health courts require a guilty plea, therefore, the clients are convicted. Being convicted of a crime has collateral consequences. (McAleer, 2010) Collateral consequences may occur such as limitation of employment opportunities, access to public housing, disenfranchisement, elimination of welfare benefits and eligibility for financial aid. (The Sentencing Project, 2015) • Forced Medication: Although mental health courts are voluntary, and offenders are likely to benefit from medication, it is not ethical to force offenders to take medication against their will. (McAleer,

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A. O’Connor v. Donaldson 1975: In this precedent, the supreme court decided that the presence of mental illness alone is not enough to warrant involuntary confinement. If the patient is no longer found dangerous to him/herself or others, there is no justification to continue confinement. Commitment needs to be justified on the basis of mental disease and dangerousness. This precedent is applicable to the case of Mr. Y, because the statement above states dangerousness and mental illness as a basis for justifying continual commitment for Mr. Y. If the preponderance of evidence shows that Mr. Y is dangerous due to his mental disease, then deciding to civilly commit him would meet the requirement of this precedent case.

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This order is made at sentencing and follows risk assessment by an accredited body. It always includes a community-based portion and mechanisms for evaluating the patient according to set standards (Fyfe, 2011, p. 202). The Scottish government hopes that this order will not be used in more than fifteen cases per year, and thus far has been successful in this goal (Fyfe, 2011, p. 205). The Care Programme Approach can also be used with people who are part of the mental health system but were not introduced through court

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The book Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson brings awareness to the unfairness in the justice system and in our federal prisons. Incarceration of citizens suffering with mental health issues is a problem in our U.S prisons and the justice system but there are solutions to this problem like offering different programs to the mentally ill. In the book Just Mercy, Bryan Stevenson gives a glimpse of the cruel, unjust sentencing practices problems we have with our justice system. Our prisons are flooded with inmates who suffer from a mental illness and with correction officers who are not properly trained to handle inmates who suffer from this hidden illness.

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Yet, there is a significant proportion of death row inmates are mentally ill and the research evidence found suggests that mental illness is often, in fact, an aggravating factor as far as capital sentencing bodies are concerned. The Supreme Court eventually came to the conclusion of this: “If it is cruel and unusual punishment to hold convicted criminals in unsafe conditions, it must be unconstitutional to confine the involuntarily committed - who may not be punished at all - in unsafe conditions” (French, 2005) There are rights that each individual has, and there needs to be guidelines to make sure each person is treated fairly, even if they do not deserve such

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Mental health and the law are not things that go hand in hand. Mental health is a reason to get locked up, but with help. The OJ Simpson case is being reopened and rediscussed because he may have had mental health issues that led to the reason for his murders. They have reason to believe that drug usage led to depression and thoughts of taking his own life that led him to kill three people. He was not in the right state of mind and his lawyer can argue that it was not his fault, but his mental health disorders fault.

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“My work with the poor and incarcerated has persuaded me that the opposite of poverty is not wealth; the opposite of poverty is justice.” (Stevenson 18) The wrongful convictions of people with mental health issues in the justice system are widely discussed in the book ‘Just Mercy’. In the chapter ‘Mitigation’, Stevenson’s focal point is on the mistreatment and injustices that mentally ill people endure while in the system. This chapter in particular opened my eyes to the struggle these people face, ways we can help to prevent it, and how I have started seeing it in my everyday life.

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A major demographic of people that are being treated unfairly within the justice system are the mentally ill. Because of the modern lack of empathy within the system, those suffering from mental illness are not receiving the treatment and care that they need, which is limiting the justice that the system is producing. Mental illness is rarely considered when assessing crime, and this has led to large quantities of prisoners being mentally ill. In “Just Mercy”, Stevenson says, “America’s prisons have become warehouses for the mentally ill” (Stevenson 186). Because courts have a lack of empathy regarding the mentally ill, these people are being piled up in prisons, making up the majority of the population.

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Introduction Prior to the mid-1960 virtually all mental health treatment was provided on an inpatient basis in hospitals and institutions. The Community Mental Health Act of 1963 was established with its primary focus on deinstitutionalizing mentally ill patients, and shutting down asylums in favor of community mental health centers. It was a major policy shift in mental health treatment that allowed patients to go home and live independently while receiving treatment, (Pollack & Feldman, 2003). As a result of the Act, there was a shift of mentally ill persons in custodial care in state institutions to an increase of the mentally ill receiving prosecutions in criminal courts.

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There are so many mentally ill people in correctional facilities because most families do not know how to help their loves ones who suffer from a mental illness, so the call the police for help. Majority of the police officers do not know what to do or how to handle people with a mental illness disease. Police officers who are not trained to deal with the mentally ill often do not recognize that person is ill. Some police officers do not recognize if the individual should or not go to jail or a treatment center or medical facility. The impact of law enforcement and the judicial system dealing with people with a mental illness is to assist the inmates with the help they need.

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80). They both argue that “deinstitutionalization became more of a cost-saving measure than a human rights initiative” and was the catalyst for the mass incarceration issue of mentally ill individuals (Etter et al 87). In contrast to the aforementioned authors, Kincaid does not look at deinstitutionalization as the cause of the incarceration of people who are mentally ill. Instead, the article focuses on how the current problem can be addressed. Kincaid states that mass incarceration of the mentally ill is not a direct result of the deinstitutionalization process but rather because ‘suitable treatment, alternative care, and community support’ is not made readily available and she offers a program that aims to combat the

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If there are no charges available, those with a mental illness are usually charged with disorderly conduct. AODA charges are also quite frequent when it comes to the mentally ill. Families will also use incarceration as a way to get their mentally ill family member treatment. Priority for treatment is usually given to those with a mental illness who have been arrested because of a family member's request. (“Jails and Prisons,”

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Offenders with these disorders could be dangerous to other or even themselves. The offenders with disorders like those stated before are close to being released back into society which must be frightening if they do not take their medicines. 2 Improve conditions Mental offenders are thrown in a correctional facilities due their crimes, but these offenders should be in a prison or a correctional facility where they do not get the help they need. When in a prison some of these offender could be and will be picked on like a schoolyard which might led to a suicide attempt. A report on mental offender in california have reported that over 30,000 prisoners confined in the state prison.

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The Untied States has the highest rated of adult incarceration about 2.2 million in jail or in prison. About half of those inmates are mentally ill; the cause of this problem may me a result of deinstitutionalization of the state 's mental health system. In other words, the state has put the mentally ill humans in a correctional facility as they were in an asylum and the prisons holds more mentally ill humans than a state hospital nationwide. These offenders are mistreated inside of jails and prison, believes it or not it has been proven. Most of these individual have different illness, which consist of psychotic illness, depression, personality disorder, antisocial personality disorder, organic disorders and

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Those who struggle with chronic mental illness sometimes, exhibit limited insight and judgment regarding their treatment (Menninger,2001). This potentially becomes detrimental because they can be a danger to themselves and/or others, and cannot care for themselves independently. In an involuntary commitment policy, the typical stakeholders consist of psychiatric patients, psychiatrist, medical doctors ,law enforcement, and legislators. During the policy formulation process, each of the stakeholders is able to provide different viewpoints given their field of

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(NAMI). If people with a mental illness receive counseling and/or treatment for their illness many arrests and crimes could be

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