Topic 5 DQ 2
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Feb 20, 2024
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Uploaded by angeloffrost
Topic 5 DQ 2
How does the justice system view psychological services in general?
People with various mental illnesses are significantly overrepresented in the criminal justice system, according to both experience and study. The precise link between mental illness and criminal behaviors—including violent behavior—as well as the best ways to minimize crime
among those with mental illnesses who have dealt with the criminal justice system are less apparent. The U.S. has the highest incarceration rate and the greatest number of imprisoned people of any country in the world, according to figures compiled by Statista (2024). Approximately 1 million individuals were jailed in the United States as of July 2021 (Dyvik, 2024). In contrast, despite having a total population more than four times that of the United States in 2021, China is thought to have had 1.7 million inmates (Dyvik, 2024). With around 760,000 prisoners, Brazil comes in third. As of May 2021, the United States had a per capita imprisonment rate of 639 per 100,000 people; El Salvador had a rate of 562 per 100,000 people. When a defendant with a significant mental illness is involved in a criminal case, most courts would initially recommend that they be sent to a residential psychiatric care facility where
they can get therapy aimed at regaining their competency (Maryville University Online, 2023). Placement in these institutions, however, could not be feasible given the current COVID-19 pandemic's impact on the amount of space available for usage by convicts and inmates in need of
mental health care. It may take weeks or months for inmates whose admission for treatment for competence restoration has been mandated by the courts (Maryville University Online, 2023). Contact limitations put in place to stop the coronavirus's transmission have restricted open-living
situations in most long-term mental care facilities. Due to this, the groups who require professional help the most have the least amount of access to crucial mental health treatment. Reference Maryville University Online. (2023, November 1). Addressing mental health and the Criminal Justice System
. https://online.maryville.edu/blog/mental-health-and-criminal-justice/
Dyvik, E. H. (2024, January 8). Most prisoners per capita by country 2024
. Statista. https://www.statista.com/statistics/262962/countries-with-the- most-prisoners-per-100-
000-inhabitants Between 1955 and 2000, the number of state hospital psychiatric beds declined from 339 to 22 per 100,000 population (Gao, 2021). The fraction of mentally ill inmates in the criminal justice system rose from 16% of inmates in 1976 to 44% of jail inmates in 2011–2012 (Gao, 2021). The idea that deinstitutionalization and reduction in the number of psychiatric inpatient beds has contributed to the current mental health crisis in the U.S. criminal justice system. Despite decades of research into the relationship between of psychiatric bed numbers and inmate populations, the literature about this relationship has remained conflicted, and with palpable costs in personal suffering and powerful consequences for public expenditure priorities (Gao, 2021). Expansion of psychiatric inpatient services has been proposed as a solution. However, a historical correlation between rising inmate numbers and falling psychiatric bed numbers exists, this correlation does not necessarily imply that a potential policy that exogenously increases the number of psychiatric beds would decrease inmate numbers (Gao, 2021).
Reference
Gao, Y. N. (2021). Relationship Between Psychiatric Inpatient Beds and Jail Populations in the United States. Journal of psychiatric practice
, 27
(1), 33–42. https://doi.org/10.1097/PRA.0000000000000524
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