Mental Health in Criminal Justice Essay

The mental disorder also known as mental illness is a severe medical condition. It is a disease which causes mild to too many disturbances in behavior as well as thought, leading to failure of coping with the ordinary routines and demands of life (Lamberti, 2016). There are many classified forms of mental health, more than 200. Among the top five issues that are classified as mental health issues may include; Schizophrenia, this is a disorder that affects one's ability to behave, feel and think Cleary. The second type is known as Bipolar disorder; it is associated with swing moods episodes. It ranges from deep depression to manic heights.

Dementia, on the other hand, is characterized by typical symptoms and a group of thinking that usually does interfere with the daily functioning of a person Anxiety disorder is yet another mental health condition, deep feelings of worry and fear characterize it. The opinions are strong enough to interfere with the affected patient daily activities. Finally, there is Clinical Depression a mental health disorder that is usually characterized by total loss of interest in daily activities and persistently depressed mood. These symptoms result in significant impairment of the affected person everyday life.

When it comes to criminal justice, for those people with mental illness, there needs to be some consideration since their actions which may have led them to commit certain crimes may be as a result of the unstable state of mind. Therefore, sentencing them for the said crime without considering their state of mind at the time of the crime may not be fair. The issue of mental health in criminal justice as a contemporary issue makes the following six points.

Imprisoning the affected person for the crime committed may deteriorate his or her mental health. Imposing a sentence to a mentally sick person will eventually make him even worse. It is, therefore, better to impose a lenient punishment, which will not affect the offender negatively. As this will fasten is recovery. In addition to that, sentencing a mentally sick person to imprisonment is likely to attract sympathy from the community. However, it is not good to get community sympathy on that perspective. It is bearing in mind that the person who is getting comfort is mentally sick.

The offender's mental illness may cause him/her not to understand why he may have been sentenced. The sentence to him may be inappropriate. They are thereby making the court sentence irrelevant to the offender. A good example here is when the offender is impaired to learn the statements from the court. Also depending on the type and level of mental impairment, it may affect the kind of sentence to be imposed. Some mental ailments may make the judge to order the offender to be treated. That way the offender will get the treatment and not punishment. Another consideration here is that, due to the mental illness of the offender, a sentence imposed on him may be too heavy on him, unlike what an ordinary person would take. To ensure that the offender does not suffer that major blow, this may, in turn, deteriorate his health. For this cause, a reduction of his punishment may be imminent.

Some sentences may cause the offender to deteriorate on his mental capability. This could be most common if the crime he committed were to be determined by his clear thinking. Sentencing him may result in blameworthiness for the offense. That being the case the sentence may be unhelpful to the said offender. It is, however, good to note that the offender's sentence may be reduced or increased depending on his health mental condition. But the above point considers the reduction of the sentence.

Reference

Lamberti, J. S. (2016). Preventing criminal recidivism through mental health and criminal justice collaboration. Psychiatric Services, 67(11), 1206-1212. Retrieved from https://ps.psychiatryonline.org/doi/full/10.1176/appi.ps.201500384