Mental Health in Criminal Justice System Book Review Sample

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Ross passionately writes a brilliant thesis about how America imprisons some of its most vulnerable citizens and why they are persecuted there. In recent years, the total number of convicts has declined dramatically, but the fraction of those convicted with mental problems has climbed. People imprisoned regularly in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Seattle, and other big cities have more excellent rates of mental illness. They are more likely to require antipsychotic medication while incarcerated (Sugie & Turney, 2017 ). Aside from race and income, mental illness is a significant aspect of mass imprisonment.

It is troubling that one in every three African-American men is imprisoned for life and that one in every two Americans with a severe mental illness is arrested at some point. The unfortunate fact is that the United States has the resources to treat mental illness with care, effectiveness, and compassion.

Americans, on the other hand, have decided to oppose it as a culture. Current policies aim to prevent people with disabilities and mental illnesses from being institutionalized by constructing a community health center for outpatient treatment, allowing them to integrate into the relationship—nature of compassion and acceptance from their neighbors and families (Stockdill, 2015). The results were difficult due to limited funding and the construction of a community center. The state has closed “dementia camps,” but persons with major mental diseases are increasingly being released into the community, where they are frequently sent to local jails. Confinement exacerbated illness.

Mental diseases or illnesses are behavioral patterns that severely affect a person’s functionality. The feature might manifest itself as a recurrence, remission, or as a single event. In many nations, mental health problems are frequent and ubiquitous. Intellectual disability, for example, impacts around 54 million Americans (Forrester et al., 2018). There are a lot of persons with mental illnesses in the criminal justice system.

People with mental illnesses withdrew from jails or prisons as the number of unlawful activities increased, alluding to more comprehensive and culturally optimal community-based mental health care. Because mental illness impacts the judicial system and other legal organizations, state, national, and municipal governments are taking on this problem to keep them out of both the juvenile and criminal justice systems, it is critical to assist individuals who are going through it.

Ross stated in the chapter “Fate to Fail” that the criminal court system “accepts not just a significant number of persons with mental illness, but also the sickness, that is, those who are most in need of urgent treatment (Roth, 2018). Patients respond best when therapy is initiated as soon as possible. Illnesses that go untreated usually worsen over time.

Furthermore, three-quarters of convicts with mental illnesses reported substance abuse issues. Self-medication with alcohol or illicit narcotics is frequently the cause of this. Ross goes on to explain that the jail is run correctly through management and coercion. The reverse is happening in terms of what good therapy entails for persons suffering from mental illnesses. As a result, psychological issues are frequently aggravated in jails and prison settings.

Medical leaders, law enforcement agencies, prosecutors, lawmakers, court officials, and attorneys all take part in and contribute ideas to the goal of decreasing criminal justice involvement, giving support, and advancing justice. You must concentrate on configuring your system. Everyone’s outcomes have improved. Today’s prisoners have substantial mental health challenges, and various sorts of confinement will increasingly be used to avoid criminal justice infractions.

Keeping children out of the juvenile and criminal justice systems allows medical practitioners to conduct health evaluations and develop treatment programs in compliance with legal standards (Lamb & Weinberger, 2017). Prisons have distinct features that are critical for the treatment of persons with intellectual impairments. Even though it is difficult to offer appropriate therapy for various prison systems owing to significant issues, authorities must ensure that inmates with specific impairments receive the best possible care.

Offenders are subjected to insufficient punishment and solitary incarceration for the sake of their health. They can be sentenced to jail terms that are longer than those of regular inmates. Policies and efforts have been proposed to address how offenders with mental health problems should be treated in jails across the world. As the number of inmates increases, so do the number of mental health complaints in US jails. Providing rewards to convicts suffering from mental illnesses aids in keeping them well (Lamb & Weinberger, 2017).

Ross’ study is excellent. Her compelling narrative exposes the actual cost of holding mentally ill persons in our country. She went to jails and prisons. She documented the heartbreaking stories of persons suffering from mental illnesses who were continually jailed and frequently abused by the prison system. She met with reformers and psychiatrists who have a keen understanding of what is required but are sadly lacking in the political will of their country. This book is a must-read for anybody engaged in the care and treatment of persons with persistent mental illnesses since it demonstrates how our jail system has evolved into the country’s largest mental health hospital.

References

Forrester, A., Till, A., Simpson, A., & Shaw, J. (2018). Mental illness and the provision of mental health services in prisons. British Medical Bulletin.

Lamb, H. R., & Weinberger, L. E. (2017). Understanding and treating offenders with serious mental illness in public sector mental health. Behavioral sciences & the law, 35(4), 303-318.

Roth, A. (2018). Insane: America’s criminal treatment of mental illness. Basic Books.

Stockdill, J. W. (2015). National Mental Health Policy and the Community Mental Health Centers, 1963-1981.

Sugie, N. F., & Turney, K. (2017). Beyond incarceration: Criminal justice contact and mental health. American Sociological Review, 82(4), 719-743.