Deshaney Vs. Winnebago Case Analysis

The facts of the case in Deshaney V. Winnebago County (1989) start with Joshua Deshaney’s mother suing Winnebago County’s Department of Social Services. Joshua Deshaney lived with his abusive father. Joshua’s father beat him so bad that he ended up with serve brain damage. The damage was so bad that Joshua is now permanently mentally disabled. During the time that Joshua lived with his father and endured the abuse the Winnebago Department of Social Services was made aware of the abuse and has several complaints about the abuse Joshua endured. They Winnebago Department of Social Services said they did everything in their power to protect Joshua. They did not however remove Joshua from the fathers care/home therefore the mother of Joshua Deshaney

The case of Stowers v. Wolodzko revolves around the confinement of Mrs. Stowers, a Michigan resident who lived with her husband and two children. Mrs. Stowers was confined in a private mental hospital, in accordance with a court order that was obtained by Dr. Wolodzko and Dr. Smyk. Dr. Wolodzko and Dr. Smyk were under the instruction of the plaintiff’s husband, who wanted his wife’s mental competency evaluated. In December 1963, the doctors signed a statement declaring that they found Mrs. Stowers mentally ill (Stowers, 1971). This allowed for the removal of her from her home in an arguably traumatizing fashion.

“I just knew the phone would ring some day and Joshua would be dead,” stated social worker Ann Kemmeter regarding Joshua DeShaney and the ongoing abuse he endured from his father. Joshua’s father brutally and repeatedly abused his four-year-old son Joshua (Wichenbach). The State of Wisconsin was aware of this abuse, but still did nothing to intervene and stop the mistreatment of this child (Wichenbach). The State’s inaction led to the Supreme Court case DeShaney v. Winnebago Department of Social Services, in which Joshua’s mother, Melody, sued the Winnebago Department of Social Services claiming, “the social worker deprived Joshua of his liberty without due process of law” (Alexander). In order to fully understand the DeShaney case, one must conduct thorough background research, delve into the court case itself, and analyze the impact the case has yet today.

The case of Mills v. Rogers has a significant importance in virtue of the human, civil and constitutional rights of the patients who are hospitalized at mental institutions. Despite the fact whether the patient was there voluntarily or contrary, Rogers believed that the institutions should respect the patient’s decision when it involved antipsychotic drug treatments. Rubie Rogers was a 36-year old black woman who voluntarily institutionalized herself at the Boston State Hospital (BSH). Rogers suffered from hallucinations along with delusions and acquired a history of thought disorder such as violent behavior. Before Mills v. Rogers, a prior lawsuit was filed.

The Eighth Circuit Court has raised an intriguing legal and controversial issue by ruling that the State of Arkansas could force death row prisoner, Charles Laverne Singleton, to take antiphychodic drugs to insure he was sane for execution. After research, I found that Singleton remained in the appeals process for twenty-four-and-a-half years because of the 1986, U.S. Supreme Court decision, Ford vs. Wainwright, that ruled execution of the insane is cruel and unusual punishment. The state authorities finally decided to treat the prison inmate based on the 1990, U.S. Supreme Court decision, Washington vs. Harper, that subjects prison inmates with serious mental illness to mandatory anti-psychotic drugs against his

Stein, T.J. (2004), The role of law in social work practice and administration, Columbia University Press, New York.

Butler, I (2013) Moral Panic and Child Protection Available form: http://www.moralpanicseminars.files.wordpress.com.2013/05/sem2-butler.pdf [Accessed 15th November 2013]

The court held the psychologist responsible for the murder of his girlfriend and for not informing of the intent to harm. I believe Justice Tobriner said it best, “the protective privilege ends where the public peril begins.”

The deinstitutionalization of state mental hospitals has left many individuals untreated and in the community where there come under police scrutiny due to their odd behavior, that is a manifestation of their illness. Majority of mentally ill offenders have not committed a serious crime and are subjected to inappropriate arrest and incarceration (Soderstrom, 2008). This new policy has become quite a concern to the fact that the correctional environment has proven to show no positive results in the mental health of the offender during their time of incarceration or upon their release date and thereafter (Soderstrom, 2008).

The use of mental health courts has been growing in the U.S., which has led to the discussion about how the mental health courts further promote medicalization of deviance; this is true. As outlined by Tammy Seltzer (2005), mental health courts have only been successful due to failures in the

Mental health courts change the criminal justice system. In addition to probation, jail, prison, and other forms of rehabilitation, a mental health court introduces a new option as “punishment”. Psychiatric treatment. But mental health courts also change the system in other ways, by criminalizing non-criminal behaviours. But the mental health courts that exist so far, with very few exceptions, accept only people charged with nonviolent low-level offenses. While these courts help some people get services, they do nothing to help the mentally ill facing prison or lengthy jail sentences, and they do not reduce the criminalization of mental illness. If mental health courts increase the punishment of minor offenses, as some undoubtedly do, their

The use of civil commitment or involuntary hospitalization is controversial because it involves a serious deprivation of a person's liberty. Mental health practitioners must evaluate the risk in the context of civil commitment.

And modernity idea was composed and relatives by the T.S Eliot, Ernest Hemingway through the poem. We all can saw their poem and relate the modernism through the poem. For the development of the modernism author explain the development of modernism.” T.S Eliot” describe the modernism through his poem “Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” we can saw the modernism in this poem describe the clarification of the labored soul of the ideal modern man which was an overeducated, anxious and sensitively affected. Poem narrator try to speaking about a man who wanted to make an relationship and force whom he loved and someway he want to create connection and talk with that women whom he loved. An another way author recognizes moreover of life expectancy to challenge an line to the women, this poem changes after sequence of properly real physical situation, numerous centers like as women support in the lamplight, coffee spoon over, fires to a sequence of unclear the deep ocean appearance picture conveying author emotional distance from the world as he come to recognize his emotion and I think Prufrock is influential strong for its variety of intelligent orientation.

Kendra’s Law is designed to provide court-ordered assisted outpatient treatment (AOT) for certain people with a mental illness who, in view of their treatment history and present circumstances, are unlikely to survive safely in the community without supervision (Office of Mental Health) (OMH, 2012). On August 9, 1999 the Governor signed Kendra’s Law which created a statutory framework for court-ordered AOT (OMH, 2012). The law is named after an incident that occurred in a New York City subway station in January, 1999. Kendra Webdale, a young aspiring writer, was pushed in front of an oncoming train by a man with a history of mental illness (i.e. schizophrenia) and hospitalizations who failed to take his prescribed medications (Corrigan, Mueser, Bond, Drake, & Solomon, 2008; OMH, 2012; Worthington, 2009). Webdale was one of the three to five percent of victims of violent crime by a mentally ill individual (Worthington, 2009).

critically respond to the directors distinctive Dialog style in the film in this genre supported by aspects.? What makes Nash particularly interesting as the subject for a book and movie is his long-term battle with schizophrenia connecting his actions to the dialogue.The story begins in the early years of a young schizophrenic prodigy named John Nash. 4.The film has been criticized for its inaccurate portrayal of some aspects of Nash's life.