Medicalization of Criminal Behavior Among Mental Patients

• NCJ Number: 70810
• Journal: Journal of Health and Social Behavior Volume: 20 Dated: (September 1979) Pages: 228-237
• Author(s): M E Melick; H J Steadman; J J Cocozza
• Date Published: 1979
• Length: 10 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Arrest rates of New York mental patients released during 1968 and 1975 were compared with the general population's arrest rates, in order to determine whether the concept of medicalization applies to these people's criminal behavior.

Abstract

The concept of medicalization suggests that a wider range of behaviors is being defined as legitimate for medical intervention, including behavior perceived as deviant or criminal behavior. In both years the arrest rates for the patient groups exceeded those of the general population. These higher rates were explained by the increasing number of patients with prior police records. Patients without prior arrests had lower arrest rates after release than the general population for all crime categories except property crimes. Comparison of these data with data gathered on patients released in 1946-47, showed that over a 30-year period the proportion of males with police records admitted to psychiatric facilities has steadily and consistently increased. While the reason that a case does not reach trial probably has as much to do with the strength of the prosecutor's case as it does with the mental state of the defendant, the decision to allow a person to be sent to a mental hospital instead of proceeding with trial is a process for which little data exist. Yet the study data strongly suggest that the availability of beds in State psychiatric facilities as opposed to the unavailability of beds in prisons has provided an opportunity for the medicalization of criminal behavior, which in turn has resulted in the greatly increased rates of arrest among former mental patients. This medicalization may have occurred without any ideological shifts. Data indicate that policymakers should exercise restraint in enacting legislation on the basis of misleading data showing that the overall rates of arrest of former mental patients greatly exceed those of the general population. Tables and 31 references are provided. (Author abstract modified)