Mental illness and crime

Forensic Psychology Overview

• Content Forecast: Discussions focused on mental illness, self-injurious behavior, and suicide.

Learning Outcomes

• Learning Outcome 1: Discuss media representations of mental illness and crime.

• Learning Outcome 2: Critically evaluate the evidence for/against the correlation between mental illness and violent criminality.

• Learning Outcome 3: Understand the impact of social inequalities on perceptions and responses to mental illness and crime.

What is Mental Illness?

• Definition: “Mental illness is a disorder of the mind that is judged by experts to interfere substantially with a person’s ability to cope with life on a daily basis” (Bartol & Bartol, 2011, p. 209).

  • Difference between “Mental illness” and “Mental disorder”.

  • Understanding mental illness through various channels.

Media Representations of Mental Illness and Crime

• Considerations:

  • What do these representations communicate?

  • Are they accurate?

  • What is the impact of these portrayals?

• Potential Benefits:

  • Humanizes mental health issues.

  • Shapes public perception as: (1) real and (2) treatable.

  • Encourages positive discussions about mental health.

  • Provides hope regarding treatments and resources.

  • Some media forms offer advice and guidance (Ma, 2017).

• Potential Harms:

  • Harmful stereotypes (e.g., due to DID or schizophrenia).

  • Distorted portrayals leading to moral panics (Cohen, 2011).

  • Over-generalization of mental illness.

  • Treatment often misrepresented as ineffective.

  • Issues with accuracy in representing mental illness awareness.

Understanding Schizophrenia

• Positive Symptoms:

  • Delusions.

  • Hallucinations.

• Negative Symptoms:

  • Disconnection from feelings.

  • Lack of motivation.

  • Social isolation.

  • Disinterest in daily activities.

• Cognitive Symptoms:

  • Disorganized thinking and speech.

  • Difficulty with attention and decision-making.

Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID)

• Features:

  • Passive influence

  • Amnesia

  • Internal voices

  • Flashbacks

  • Intrusive thoughts and feelings

  • Identity confusion and memory changes

Legal Context of Mental Illness

• Learning Outcome 2 (Critique of Mental Illness and Violent Criminality):

  • Legal Insanity under M’Naghten rules requires:

    1. Defect of reason.

    2. Caused by a disease of the mind.

    3. Lack of awareness regarding the act's wrongfulness.

  • Burden of proof lies with the defendant; successful defenses are rare (Law Commission, 2013).

• Treatment under Mental Health Act (2007):

  • Scenarios for hospital treatment:

    • Direct from court for mentally illness-related offences.

    • Co-occurring conditions without direct links to the offence.

    • Development or worsening of mental illness while incarcerated.

Mental Health Act Provisions

• Sections under the Act:

  • Pre-sentence:

    • S48 – for treatment.

    • S35 – for assessment.

  • At sentence:

    • S37 - Hospital Order.

    • S37/41 with restrictions.

    • S38 interim Hospital Order – temporary transfer for assessment.

    • S45A – temporary Hospital Direction.

  • Post-sentence:

    • S47 – Hospital transfer.

    • S47/49 with restrictions.

Policing & Mental Health

• Section 136: Police can take individuals to a place of safety if they exhibit a mental disorder in public, provided they need immediate care to ensure safety.

• Campaigns:

  • #StopSIM: Addresses mental illness not being criminal behavior.

  • Right Care Right Person Initiative 2023: Aims for proper professional involvement in mental health crises.

Personality Disorders and Crime

• Statistics:

  • 4-11% of UK population has a personality disorder; 60-70% in prison.

• Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD):

  • Symptoms including fear of abandonment, mood swings, impulsive behaviors.

• Cluster B Personality Disorders by DSM classification:

  • Antisocial PD, Borderline PD, Histrionic PD, Narcissistic PD.

Mental Illness Association with Violent Criminality

• Individuals with schizophrenia are more often victims of violence than perpetrators.

• However, delusions and hallucinations correlate with violent tendencies.

• Significant comorbidity exists alongside substance abuse disorders.

Social Inequalities and Mental Health

• Disparities in mental health service access exist across racial and socio-economic lines.

• Mental health statistics show higher prevalence and longer treatment durations in BAME communities.

Confounding Factors in Mental Health and Crime

• “Downward social drift”: The relationship between unemployment, poor housing, and mental illness, which can exacerbate violent behavior.

• Trauma, deprivation, and substance misuse are highly correlated with criminality and mental disorders.

Recap of Learning Outcomes

• Revisit learning outcomes on media, mental illness criminality, and social inequalities, with emphasis on further reading and independent study resources.