NCJ Number
128973
Journal
Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology Volume: 23 Issue: 4 Dated: (December 1990) Pages: 230-240
Date Published
1990
Length
11 pages
Annotation
Recent changes in mental health legislation both in Australia and overseas provide more stringent criteria for the involuntary hospitalization of the mentally ill. A possible result of this is that the mentally ill are being "criminalized", reaching hospital only after their bizarre behavior brings them to the attention of the criminal justice system. This study of prisoners admitted to mental hospitals before and after the introduction of the 1986 Mental Health Act (Vic) found little evidence to support this hypothesis.
Abstract
The expected rise in the numbers of such admissions was paralleled by a significant increase in the overall prison population; and the predicted increase in the proportion of minor offenders did not occur. The criminalization hypothesis also fails to account for other complex interactions found between the mental health and prison systems. Although many of the prisoners in this study were probably seriously mentally ill when initially imprisoned, an equally large group, comprising a disproportionate number of female prisoners, were probably being "medicalized": Hospital admission being merely another way of the prison to manage their "unruly" behavior. 3 tables, 1 figure, and 16 references (Author abstract)