DEINSTITUTIONALIZATION WITH Severe Mental Illness INCREASE CRIME

Deinstitutionalization with Severe Mental Illness Increase Crime

Deinstitutionalization with Severe Mental Illness Increase Crime

Introduction

The deinstitutionalization of people with Severe Mental Illness has suffered, in part, because the population is poorly defined and misunderstood. In reality, many people with Severe Mental Illness who were discharged had no families with whom to reside and, subsequently, were homeless. In retrospect, policymakers, clinicians, and rehabilitation professionals, in their zeal for deinstitutionalizing people with Severe Mental Illness, may not have grasped the complexities and difficulties that people with Severe Mental Illness experience when living in the community. Deinstitutionalization possibly plays an important role in the criminalization of the mentally ill this is not a simple relation and very much depends on how the process is being implemented. It must also be emphasized that mentally ill people are in great risk of violent victimization, which should also be an important issue for the people who are treating them.

Analysis

The process of deinstitutionalization of persons with Severe Mental Illness has been shaped and directed by both positive and negative attitudes (Mulvey, 1995). In comparison to other disability types, there is evidence that Severe Mental Illness generates the most negative attitudes (Corrigan & Penn, 2005). Historically, persons with Severe Mental Illness have been construed as violent and dangerous (Schellenberg & Wasylenki, 2002). A major factor related to these attitudes is the perceived threat of violence and criminal behavior (Torrey & Stieber, 2003).

According to Torrey and Stieber (2003), many American jails have become housing for persons with Severe Mental Illness arrested for various crimes. Approximately 29% of American jails hold persons with Severe Mental Illness either on misdemeanors or on no charges at all. A total of 69% of American jails also reported seeing far more inmates now with Severe Mental Illness than just ten years ago (Torrey & Stieber, 2003). French contends that criminalization and incarceration are an unintended consequence of the deinstitutionalization process. The risk of criminal activity was not foreseen by early advocates of the deinstitutionalization movement. Torrey states that one of the reasons for criminal behavior is that persons with Severe Mental Illness obtain discharge from inpatient psychiatric hospitals with no provision for aftercare or follow-up treatment.

Negative community attitudes have made community settings uncomfortable for persons with Severe Mental Illness (Noe, 2007). Hodgins and Sheilagh contend that persons with Severe Mental Illness feel that negative attitudes are a larger barrier to a successful integration back into a community setting and perceive negative attitudes as a major obstacle to successful deinstitutionalization (Hodgins & Sheilagh, 2003). Hahn suggests that persons with disabilities, including Severe Mental Illness, have felt that their major problems stem from negative perceptions rather than from physical or mental impairments. A lack of understanding and compassion for persons with Severe Mental Illness can foster hostility and discrimination against them. Furthermore, the belief that people with Severe Mental Illness are better off in a hospital rather than in the community creates an impediment for maintaining ...