NCJ Number
102170
Date Published
1985
Length
100 pages
Annotation
This paper reviews three aspects of the mentally disordered offender that are crucial to understanding and treating this group: relationships between the mental health and criminal justice systems, the criminalization of the mentally ill, and mentally disordered sentenced offenders.
Abstract
A process analysis of the mental health-criminal justice interface addresses issues of definition, client flow, and decision points between these vast and complex systems. A literature review concludes that the mentally ill are being caught up in the criminal justice system for three principal reasons: deinstitutionalization; police handling of the mentally ill; and inaccessibility to treatment for certain types of mental disorders, such as persons who are disruptive but not dangerous enough to be committed by law. While the mental health and legal literature has largely ignored the mentally disordered sentenced offender, this small but highly visible group includes many psychopaths and sexual offenders. The paper examines mental disorder prevalence rates in prisons, reasons for mental disorders among inmates, relevant Canadian laws, and Washington State's treatment approach for sexual offenders. Tables and approximately 180 references.