Professional Documents
Culture Documents
(Week 1) Mental Health in The Criminal Justice System Trends Evaluation
(Week 1) Mental Health in The Criminal Justice System Trends Evaluation
Monique Hill
05/04/19
CJHS/395
Theresa Degard
Mental health 2
As an illustration, there is an issue that intersects between the criminal justice system and
health policy. The issue amongst the mental health and the law is how there can be a better
preparedness when it comes to handling a person who is dealing with mental health issues and
become involved with the criminal justice system. According to many studies, people who deal
with a mental health crisis will have encounters with the police before they would get help
medically(“Mental Health Needs In The Criminal Justice System", 2017). This paper will be
ultimately reviewing past, present, and future trends in the interaction amongst mental health
services and the criminal justice system, and also the criminal justice connections with the
surrounding society.
In particularly, within the past few years there has been issues that affect mental health
services that are provided within the criminal justice system. However, Further, there is a high
percentage of inmates that are in jail who experience mental health issues. All agencies and
officials face a challenge of responding most effective to the situation at hand(“Mental Health
Needs In The Criminal Justice System", 2017). Moreover, a factor that can be playing a part in
this issue is lack of information in the criminal justice system. There is a very strong need
incorporate data systems to input good outcomes and prevent people from falling through the
gaps throughout the system. For example, gaps can include but not limited to people being
wrongly incarcerated without knowledge of the person’s mental health status and treatment plan.
Also, gaps can play a role in people being released from incarceration into the community
without any effort to coordinate with the mental health system to ensure follow up services to
Mental health 3
make sure they are getting the proper care needed("Creating New Hope For Mental Illness And
The Criminal Justice System", 2017).
On the other hand, there are at least two therapeutic trends that may affect future mental
health services as provided within the criminal justice system. These two therapeutic trends are
pretrial diversion, and New policies. For instance, a defendant’s first in court appearance can
create an opportunity to prove those with mental health needs who are eligible for diversion.
Pretrial diversion actually routes defendants away from jail and traditional criminal justice
processing and addresses specific underlying factors that contribute to criminal behavior. Nearly
every state, since the year 2012, has addressed diversion and it has been a growing trend to
authorize and or expand diversion programming for people with mental health needs or
substance use disorders. There has been actual laws in over twenty states that authorize diversion
for people identified as having a mental health condition. Their are nearly thirty four states that
have laws that authorizing diversion for defendants with substance related needs.Some of these
laws allow for drug or mental health courts. Problem solving courts are widespread through out
many states and have a trend in sentencing. Corrections policy has been to codify best practices
or create state oversight for certain treatment based diversion options. Collaborations between
criminal justice and behavioral health systems facilitate diversion, and emphasis on evidence
based treatment programs promotes better outcomes (“Mental Health Needs In The Criminal
Justice System", 2017).
Mental health 4
Likewise, state lawmakers are extremely interested in policies designed to help develop
better interactions with the criminal justice system for people who actually have behavioral
health needs. There have been two efforts that were made by state legislatures to require training
for police and to establish requirements and standards for crisis intervention teams. However
there are only about twenty seven states that actually have laws that require officers to be trained
to respond to mental health, substance use and behavioral disorder issues. Laws actually specify
which officers are to be trained, which entity is responsible for conducting the training, whether
or not funding is provided, and whether or not the training is mandated. In fact, there are ten
states that have legislatively created requirements and/or guidelines for the establishment of
crisis intervention teams. These teams are formal partnerships among police departments and
mental health providers that ensure responding personnel are trained to identify, assess and de
escalate crisis situations. States also have started to look for ways to connect people with social
services in lieu of initiating the criminal justice process and booking someone into jail. Recent
legislation has funded or authorized innovative new prebooking diversion programs known
generally as “deflection.”(“Mental Health Needs In The Criminal Justice System", 2017).
Indeed, these two trends can affect society in a way that may or may not reduce of
encourage society. These two trends affect society in a way that is not changeable unless the
criminal justice wants to make a change. The increasing number of individuals with mental
health and substance use conditions in the criminal justice system has enormous fiscal, health,
and human costs. Diverting individuals with mental health and substance use conditions away
Mental health 5
from jails and prisons and toward more appropriate and culturally competent community based
mental health care is an essential component of national, state, and local strategies to provide
people the supports they need and to eliminate unnecessary involvement in the juvenile and
criminal justice systems. In order to reduce involvement, support those who need services, and
promote fairness throughout the criminal justice system, leaders in the mental health system, law
enforcement officers, public defenders, prosecutors, court personnel, advocates, legislators, and
others in the criminal justice system must come together to create a system that will improve
outcomes for all ("Mental Health And Criminal Justice Issues", n.d.).
Actually, the diversion program can help in a magnificent way when it comes to the society
because it takes them through a process that helps them learn how to handle their conditions.
Without this program and throwing people with mental health issues into jail and back into
society they can’t learn how to cope with themselves. This is why most patients with mental
health end up right back in jail once released to society. Without this program patients cannot
learn what they need to in order to get by. Diversion programs actually encourage society
because they know that the world can just be a better place because people are getting help and
families art afraid about the law killing their family members. Alternatively, creating new
policies can help make a change to the society if the law enforcements jumps on board. Sadly
you can change everyone and everything that they do. With new policies put in place when it
comes to people with the mental health disabilities can help they criminal justice system be
Mental health 6
accountable. There can be laws put in place to not only help out the people with mental health
disabilities, but also force officers to get the training they need in order to make a change.
To conclude, most of the population of defendants that are in jail are people who hold a
disability pertaining to mental health intended and that speaks volume. Making the change in
order to better the society can help improve a nation. Being incarcerated and thrown back into
the wilderness blinded won’t help anyone. Mental health is very important to learn because
criminal justice systems face significant challenges in addressing the mental health needs of the
people they serve. These people are more likely to have previous convictions and to serve a
lengthier sentence than those who do not have mental health needs. Without treatment, mental
health conditions can linger or worsen, increasing the likelihood of further involvement in the
justice system. To achieve better results for both systems and individuals, legislators are
considering and enacting policies to enhance access to mental health services at multiple stages
in the criminal justice system. In all honesty, Mental health courts basically coordinate the
expertise of judicial officers, prosecutors, defense counsel, and treatment and supervision
personnel to address defendants’ mental health needs, while still holding them accountable for
their actions. The good thing about mental health courts is it can be used prior to or after a guilty
plea, and the successful completion of the program may result in clearing defendants’ criminal
records. The first mental health court was established in 1997, and more than 300 currently
operate in the United States ("Addressing Mental Health In The Justice System", 2015).
mental health services and the criminal justice system, and also the criminal justice connections
References
http://www.ncsl.org/research/civilandcriminaljustice/addressingmentalhealthinthe
justicesystem.aspx
Creating New Hope For Mental Illness And The Criminal Justice System(2017). Retrieved from
https://www.nami.org/Blogs/NAMIBlog/October2017/CreatingNewHopeforMental
IllnessandtheCrimi
Mental health 8
http://www.ncsl.org/research/civilandcriminaljustice/mentalhealthneedsofcriminal
justice.aspx
http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/issues/mentalhealthandcriminaljusticeissues