Lanterman Petris Short Act Analysis

The prevalence of individuals with severe mental illness entering the criminal justice system creates a social injustice and substantial cost. People with mental illness cycle thorough courtrooms, jails, and prisons, generating a concern among policy-makers, criminal administrators, practitioners, families, and advocates. These facilities lack the ability to provide adequate treatment and results in a damaging cycle. In 2000, The United States Congress responded to these individuals by authorizing Policy Law 106-515 or mental health court; combining court supervision and community-based treatment services for individuals with mental illness. Policy Law 106-515 is a therapeutic court approach which seeks to provide effective treatment and eliminate

In this section of the legislature Dix discusses the evidence of the treatment at multiple towns asyulms. The memorial addressed the care of the patients with mental illness. In each place there is evidence of torture or inhumane treatment. Therefore, with this letter Dix hoped to persuade the government of Massachusetts to reform care for the insane. It was Dix’s first attack onto the government. The popular reaction to the report inspired Massachusetts legislators to enlarge the state psychiatric hospital by 60

Simon’s arguments gave me an insight towards my implications of inadequate mental health treatment and how the mentally ill were not really getting treated due to overcrowding. An issue in which questions how mentally ill patients will improve at their time in the prison facility, which kept me wondering how this situation even got to this very point. The lacking quality requirements resulted to turning an action into a criminal offense by making it illegal to the mentally

Doyle, Jim, and Peter Fimrite. "Caring for Mentally Ill Criminals Outside of Prison Is Dangerous." America's Prisons. Ed. Clare Hanrahan. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2006. Opposing Viewpoints. Rpt. from "Criminally Insane Taking over State Hospitals." San Francisco Chronicle 22 July 2001. Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 26 Feb. 2013.

In the book, Crazy, by Pete Earley, provides a detailed overview of the mental health system in the United States, as it presents a first hand narrative of Earley’s family journey through the system. The author’s major premise and arguments, in the book, is to highlight the history of mental health, navigation through the judicial system with mental illness, the bureaucracy and policies of hospitals, society views on human rights and client safety, and the impact on the individual, family, and community. The content suggests that human service workers and public health workers should extend their professional lens to advocate for change in the mental health system in the United States.

Within contemporary society, the legal process of placing an individual into a detention or psychatric treatment facility is called "civil commitment." Typically, this is reserved for the mentally ill, or those people who have satisfied the Court's rule that they are a danger to others, or to themselves. Society realizes that, at times, an individual may pose a danger to themselves or to society and be unable to make rational decisions. In fact, in most jurisdictions in the modern world, involuntary commitment procedures are specifically applied to individuals who have manifested some form of serious mental illness that acts to impair their reasoning to such extent that they are unable to make cogent and logical decisions. Therefore, at these times the state (the Court system) must intercede to find ways to make the appropriate decisions under a legal template. Involuntary commitment may have, in the past, been used in certain situations, inappropriately, but the statutory criteria that indicates one is a danger to self or others usually acts as a legal axiom (Korba, 2008).

In the discussion panel of “Minds on the Edge: Facing Mental Illness - A Fred Friendly Seminar,” we are presented with the cases of two individuals who suffer from mental illness and the mental health system that is in place failed to provide them the help they needed. The mental heath system that is currently in place fails mentally ill individuals tremendously. There is not a safety net to provide individuals with the necessary help when they are at a beginning stage of the illness. The healthcare system waits until the mentally ill becomes an imminent threat to society to provide the treatment needed. Nowadays, police officers and judges come in contact with the mentally ill more often than psychologists or psychiatrists. This is due to

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).

Grob provides a historical account of a major social problem and society’s evolving responses to the mentally ill and how the "mad among us" be treated and managed. The book details the history of the treatment of the mentally ill starting in colonial America, when local families and communities were held responsible for mentally ill family and community members. The first mental hospitals were created when America grew in size, population and complexity. They were successful at treating the severely and persistently mentally ill compared to past solutions. In the past treatment varied from confinement, to a considerably wide measure of freedom.

Given the number of incarcerated inmates who suffer from some form of mental illness, there are growing concerns and questions in the medical field about treatment of the mentally ill in the prison system. When a person with a mental illness commits a crime or break the law, they are immediately taken to jail or sent off to prison instead of being evaluated and placed in a hospital or other mental health facility. “I have always wondered if the number of mentally ill inmates increased since deinstitutionalization” Since prison main focus is on the crimes inmates are incarcerated; the actual treatment needed for the mentally ill is secondary. Mentally ill prisoners on the surface may appear to be just difficult inmates depending on the

The theory of ‘deinstitutionalization’ began arising with the theory of providing more freedom to the mentally ill and less spending on full time care facilities. The widespread use of drugs to control the mentally ill in the 1900s led to a mass release of patients and an emptying of asylums. Outpatient Psychiatric Clinics were established. Case Law in the United States began to be generated to provide the mentally ill with greater rights. Shelton v. Tucker 1960 provided that the mentally ill should receive care in the “least restrictive alternative”, which is a practice still utilized. O’Connor v. Donaldson 1975 ruled that non-dangerous mental patients have the right to be treated or discharged if they have been institutionalized against their will. This new approached permitted the mass exodus

The stigma of mental illness creates a barrier for those who need treatment. Over the years, cases dealing with mentally ill persons involved with the criminal justice system have been prevalent. The cycle of courtrooms, prisons, and jails dealing with these individuals proved to be costly and an ineffective use of these resources (Docgurley, 2011). As a result, mental health courts have been established. This is essentially a therapeutic place where the focus is less on the crime and punishment and more on helping the client, which is usually in lieu of a jail or prison sentence. Particularly in this setting, it is important to understand the process of court proceedings, how client rights are protected, the importance of client safety and welfare, the gaps in services, and the course of involuntary treatment.

The subject of how to ethically treat prisoners is a contentious one, and when the struggles of mental illness are added to the equation, it becomes even more complex. In attempt to manage difficult or dangerous prisoners, solitary confinement has increasingly became the punishment of choice by prison officials. Solitary confinement can intensify or aggravate detrimental occurrences in behavior in prisoners when they are exposed to this isolation for extended amounts of time. The article “Solitary Confinement and Mental Illness in U.S. Prisons: A Challenge for Medical Ethics,” was written by Jeffery L. Metzner M.D., a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry along with Senior Counsel of Human Rights Watch, Jamie

The incarceration of those who are mentally ill is on the continual rise. Many states juggle with the decision of placing offenders in Mental Hospital or locating them in State Prisons. Latessa and Holsinger (2011) discuss two major reasons for the increase of those with mental illness within the prison system. First, many states have no longer allow for the insanity plea during criminal trials, thus those who suffer from mental illness are not required to receive mandatory mental treatment. This is due to the discomforting idea that criminal offenders should not be given the same living conditions as those whom are patients of mental wards. Secondly, longer sentences have created a surplus of mentally ill offenders needing treatment. Soderstrom (2007) added that the lack of mental health support systems in

In our county, state and federal correctional institutions across the United States, inmates are being imprisoned for awaiting trial, during trial or convicted for some crime. According to the Bureau of Justice (BJS, 2006), Fifty-six percent of inmates in a state prison and forty-five percent of inmates in a federal prison, suffer from or had a past of mental illness. In our American society, individuals who suffer from mental illness seem to be publicly perceived as a nuisance. This can be due to the fact that the media over the years consecutively scrutinized individuals who use the insanity defense in criminal trials. The insanity plea is negatively publicized if the defendant is using it in a high profiled case which their actions resulted in severe harm or death to another individual. In addition, the public perceives the use of this plea as a scapegoat for the defendant to avoid serving punishment in a penal environment. Mentally ill individuals, who are being civilly committed or charged with all levels of crimes, are being heavily prosecuted and sentenced into correctional facilities rather than psychiatric hospitals. This leads me to discuss the lack of treatment for patients in Bridgewater State Hospital (BSH) located in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. This three hundred and fifty bed facility houses Massachusetts most criminally insane. This facility is also use to evaluate patients/inmates for competency to stand trial and for those who get civilly