mental disorders and crime

meida and dangerousness of the mentally ill

• media has proseted mentaly ill as violent and deragnded

• reaserch staes that meidia shapes public belif witch impcats stigma around menat helth

• over the top patrayals of mentaly ill are rare noww suggetsing teht portaraylas ahve improved

mental dissorderss and the crimianl justice system

• people with mental helath issues are overrepresented in the criminal justice system

• some do not recive any help

teh mental disorders 

controling for confounding factors 

• vairables such as a perosn sex age cannot be caused by mental illness so they are approprate to partial-ourt or control for 

• care is needed when talking about confounding factors

• factors such as economic stresers withc can affect a perosn mental wellbining 

psychosis and criminal violance

• there may be many risk factors with crime with are associated with scizophrenia

• we know for controling for the confouding vairables waekens teh relationship between scizphrenia and violenc but dost elliminate the relationship 

violenc in the mentaly ill and natinal trends 

• constant rates of homincide by the mentally ill over time could be regarded as evidance that mosyt of tehase homicides are due to the illness itsself 

• strong corraltion forrates of homicide by sizphrenics and rates of homiciide 

• genral homicies and homiciddes by are a perfect relationship and share common factors  

confounding by overlapping deffinitions

• mental illness are dfined by catagries

• if one of teh deffining charictoris is violence- dose teh ddefinition incle crimes as well 

• eg BPD and antie social persinality disorder 

the confounding effects of medication

psychatric drugs are often perscribed to control symtopms of the illnes

those may have side effects witch may be aggression 

the clinical sample preoblem

• stioll able to have a assoiatioship with mentaly ill and violance evan if tehre is no corrlation

• any selection mthod tat favors vilenety metlay ill may be responsable for teh association 

missclasifaction of mentally ill and violance

there may be falwed calsoficatio syste,ms for menatly ill individuals

or the public may be more inclined to report violenlence for those who have mental illness 

effects of general social trends

• mental illness and violent crime can be dependant on major social policy changes 

• mental helath mangemnet has become better with less institutinilsed and better drugs more incompising tratment and holistic plans 

psychatiric diognosis

• psychitry and pyscology alttho hvae a overlap there is diffrences in dignosuis andclassifications for mental illness 

• DIGNOSIS CRITIRA MAY ALSO CHANGE AND EVEOLVE WITH CUT off points taht may be arabetory

• the consistancy of dignosis may also be qunetinable with vage langue leving much up to interpertation

• langue differnce may also contribute to this

• the digonis may hold no benifit or relavvene to the cirme but just to enhance the technical repuation of dignositicians

kreapelins three types of psychosis 

• dementia praecox or schizaphenia- halluciations and delusions

• manic depresion

• parinia

two types of dignosis

dsm 5

internatinal classification fo deisies

pickle (1998)

found evidance that if a jouror found somthing starnge withe the crimescieen eg patterns, coiverd in yellow musterd. there rae more likly to make a judmnt of insanity 

legal deffinition 

have to meet diffrent critereia and wethere it is pled in a deffence it ha sto relate to teh crime 

mental illness and violnet crime in community samples

link et al (1992)-found a rlationship between having psycholotic symptoms and being violent but it was a weaker indicator- read paper 

swanson et al (1990)-  scizpahreina and natisocial persinalty disored- fourx more likelyof violence in a year and 14x for substance abuse todgthere it was 17x 

PTSD and crime 

• 10-15% of vetrins with ptsd potentaly higher becsue this is form intant of coming home

• vilent behvior of venterns with ptsd was universial 

• UK only 17% of vetrenis (includes woman)  have  acriminal record compared to teh 28% of the normal population of men

violent victimisatiokn of teh mnetally ill

• self medicating can lead to substance abuse problems

• inteveiwed severly mentaly ill paticenst- 27% have been a victume of a crime in the four  month before  the inteveiw, half had acted violently 

maniglio (2009)- read study

• previlance of crime victumisation amount the severly mentally ill

• those whp were mentally ill were more likly to have been victimised 

• those with mental illneses  are at mroe of a risk 

• may be due to there involvemnt in criminal behvior 

the spicla issue of psychopthas and crime