Modified Labeling Theory Paper

There is a rough estimate of around 60 percent of incarcerated individuals that are diagnosed with mental illnesses. This is due to what could be called the criminalization of the mentally ill. Mass incarceration has been America’s response to poverty and mental illness. An estimated 40 percent of the mentally ill Americans end up in the criminal justice system. Around 2 million people with mental illness go to jail every year, that’s ten times more people in jail than in state funding psychiatric treatment.

Even after release, the counterproductive, deeply internalized patterns learned in prison are still present (Haney, 2002). In addition, the rate of incarceration of mentally ill individuals is alarming. Suspects will mental and developmental disorders are often unfairly sent to prison without regard to their conditions, leaving them helpless. Mentally ill inmates have an even more difficult time adjusting to life in prison, leaving them at an even higher risk for psychological

Untreated mental illness is dangerous and over time we have learned that locking people with a mental illness is not the solution but makes it worse. People with untreated mental illness face many consequences. “People with untreated psychiatric illnesses comprise 250,000 people, of the total homeless population” (mentalillnesspolicy.org). The quality of life for these individuals is extremely heart breaking, and many are victimized regularly.

Introduction and Summary: Chapter 11 focuses on the individuals with mental illness and the criminal justice system. Every year there are hundreds of thousands of individuals with mental illness who are arrested. The past decade a lot of the state hospital and mental health facilities have been shut down for lack of funding. Many of the seriously mentally ill are roaming the streets. The serious mental illness regarding this chapter would include schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and severe depression.

When an individual is labeled as criminal or deviant, it can become part of their identity, leading them to behave in ways that conform to the label. For example, an individual labeled as a "gang member" may feel compelled to engage in gang activity to live up to their label. An individual labeled as "mentally ill" may withdraw from society and refuse to seek help for fear of further stigmatization. Labels can also lead to discrimination and exclusion, making it more difficult for individuals to reintegrate into society and find

Through the years and through inmate experiences few things are changing for female and identified mentally ill offenders. From years past, Caucasian women offenders were seen as “pious and naïve of the evils” (Hanser, 2013), and African-American women offenders were more likely to face incarceration for wrongful actions. However, women, in general, did not hold the largest offender numbers like their male counter-offenders. From the RH REALITY CHECK Internet article, written by Sharona Coutts and Zoe Greenberg, in March of 2015, “In 2010, Black women were incarcerated at nearly three times the rate of white women . . .” While women incarceration rates increase, the conditions of the institutions still lack the necessities for women and

The front line of that process is the police, who frequently determine whether someone will enter the mental health system or the criminal justice system. Even police who are equipped and inclined to recognize mental illness and respond appropriately, however, find themselves constrained to redirect the mentally ill into the criminal justice system because of a lack of alternatives. The local law enforcement can redirect non-violent mentally ill in crisis to the clinic for assessment and assistance instead of

When someone commits a crime, a news reporter sometimes ends the story by saying that the person was suffering from some type of mental illness. This causes the public to believe that everyone with mental illness must either be committing crimes or are more likely to do so. Those who are mentally ill are sometimes left to find treatment in their own

This episode of PBS Frontline focuses on the growing problem of the enormous mentally ill criminal population in prisons and jails. The viewer is also provided with insight on the challenges and difficulties many of the released mentally ill face that often lead them back into incarceration. As the numbers of mentally ill offenders increase, much is debated regarding terms of release and the deinstitutionalization of the 1970’s. One of the main focuses of this episode was how many mentally ill criminals often find themselves re-incarcerated. Those that make parole or temporary supervision are usually better off being that they have someone to make sure their lives are organized.

Like all form of disparities, mental health disparities is a serious challenge for minorities’ communities across America. Individuals with mental health illness how do not receive adequate health care due to variations can be affected in many ways. When their mental illness progress without any diagnosis they can easily be perceived as a threat to society. In cases where crimes are committed, and they cannot prove they are mentally challenged they can be charge and send to prison without being diagnosed which could affect their condition due to the lack of treatment. Without eradicating or implementing policies to deal with mental health disparities the probability of legally or morally assuming that people with mental health challenges are

In the second issue of Psychological Science in the Public Interest Vol. 15, Corrigan, Druss and Perlick (2014) discuss the role of stigma in limiting access to care and in discouraging people from pursuing mental health treatment. From a public standpoint, the stereotypes that people with mental illness are dangerous, unpredictable, responsible for their illness (Crisp et al, 2000), or generally inept, can lead to active discrimination, such as excluding people with these conditions from employment and social or educational opportunities (Parle S 2012). Furthermore, service users have recorded incidents of social discrimination in the community, such as being physically and verbally attacked by neighbours as well as strangers, having their property vandalised, or being barred from entering a range of businesses, and that those with addictions or psychotic illness were more likely to experience this than those with non-psychotic illness. Examples of being spoken to as if they were stupid or like children, patronising behaviour and attitude from the community and, in some instances, having questions addressed to those accompanying them rather than service users themselves were also reported (Lyons et al, 2009).

Stigma of Mental Illness The stigma of mental illness has a staggering presence in American society. Stigma is “... a socio-cultural process by which members of marginalized groups are labeled by other people as abnormal, shameful, or otherwise undesirable” (Michaels, Lopez, & Corrigan, 2012). A 2013 nationwide survey revealed that 46% of Americans believed that the seriously mentally ill were more likely to be dangerous than members of the the general public (McGinty, Webster, & Barry, 2014). These negative attitudes are also held by mental health professionals, which most likely results from them “...working with patients when they are in the most disturbed phase of their illness, despite this not being a typical characteristic of everyday mental illness” (Cleary, Deacon, Jackson, Andrew, & Chan, 2012).

The problem is that not enough is being done to deal with the growing population of untreated individuals who are left on the streets to fend for themselves. These patients are a problem to themselves and their respective communities. Their unpredictable behaviors threaten their well-being and the safety of fellow citizens. Those with mental illness are unable to function on a basis that allows them to take care of themselves, as a result their chances of survival are unpredictable. Those who are mentally ill are at an unstable position of survival because they lack the ability to be independent, such as providing for their everyday needs.

Mental illness and criminology: a review of related literature Aja Ferguson Chaminade University CJ 605 Dr. Allen 3/18/2017 I. INTRODUCTION Mental illness and criminology are two fields that continue to generate interest among researchers. One of the reasons that explain the consistent interest of scholars is the presence of a vast, unexplored territory where there is a dearth in available and updated information related to mental illness and criminology. Even though the study of the mentally ill and the criminal are two different spheres, it is not uncommon that individuals became criminals because they are mentally ill, just like it is not new to discover criminals in prison to develop

Stigmatization of mental illness existed well before psychiatry became a formal discipline, but was not formally labeled and defined as a societal problem until the publication of Goffman’s book (1963). Mental illnesses are among the most stigmatizing conditions, regardless of the specific psychiatric diagnosis. Unlike other illnesses, mental illness is still considered by some to be a sign of weakness, as well as a source of shame and disgrace. Many psychiatric patients are concerned about how people will view them if knowledge of their condition becomes public Mental health stigma can be divided into two distinct types: • social stigma is characterized by prejudicial attitudes and discriminating behavior directed towards individuals with mental health problems as a result of the psychiatric label they have been given and has those types stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination Stereotypes are based on knowledge available to members of a group and provide a way to categorize information about other groups in society Prejudiced persons agree with these negative stereotypes, and these attitudes lead to discrimination through negative behaviors toward mentally ill individuals those negative perceptions create fear of and social distance from mentally ill persons. • perceived stigma or