Mental Health and Criminal Justice

 

The mental health community has much to offer policy-makers who recognize the need to discard old mindsets as they explore new strategies for reducing violence. Historically, the mental health community has been out front of this process, dispelling old myths while promoting scientific research and understanding to benefit people and strengthen humane values.

 

The crucial role of mental health in criminal justice policy has only begun to receive adequate recognition by policy experts and lawmakers. In many communities, we have witnessed the success of alternative treatment courts in diverting individuals with mental health or substance abuse issues from prison and into community-based treatment programs. These treatment programs provide long-range and cost-effective solutions to endemic social problems that have been linked to crime and violence. We have seen Crisis Response Team Training (CRT) avert countless tragedies in communities where on-line police officers have been trained to identify and effectively deal with individuals experiencing psychiatric crises. Such programs not only reduce human suffering but also save tax dollars that would otherwise be wasted on ineffective approaches – including the familiar pattern of “revolving door” incarcerations of people who could, with appropriate treatment, live productive lives.

 

Research has shown that a more preventive approach – from helping children traumatized by abuse, to pursuing therapeutic interventions with at-risk youth, to adequately treating the estimated 20% of state prison inmates with serious mental illness, to making treatments available to crime victims afflicted with PTSD – can play a significant role in breaking cycles of violence and self-harm that can engulf families and sometimes entire communities.

 

Read  Justice for the Mentally Ill’ in Clinical Psychiatry News