Female Offenders and Psychiatric Counseling: Criminal Justice Implications - Essay Example

Female Offenders and Psychiatric Counseling: Criminal Justice Implications Introduction Millions of women spend years in jails for the crimes and wrongdoings they have committed. The prevailing majority of female offenders realize the seriousness of their deeds and the need to be punished for them. However, despite the growing number of female inmates, they remain some of the most misunderstood, neglected and unseen individuals in modern society (Covington 2007). The growing number of female inmates presents a serious challenge both to the criminal justice and mental health systems. The fact is that women offenders display higher levels of mental health complications and diagnoses than their male counterparts. That, however, does not mean that women are more likely to be referred to psychiatric counseling than men. It appears that, as the number of female inmates continues to increase, prisons and jails fail to catch up with the pace of change in inmate demographics. Like many years ago, the criminal justice system lacks resources needed to meet women’s health needs. The corrections system continues to ignore the health care needs of female prisoners, turning mental health complications into the most viable explanation to women’s criminal acts. Women offenders: Really mentally ill? That women-offenders are more likely than incarcerated men to display the signs and symptoms of mental health complications has been abundantly established. The current state of research provides a wealth of information concerning the most serious mental health challenges faced by incarcerated women. Understanding the mental health trends in women offenders is crucial for the development of more relevant criminal justice frameworks and detecting the stereotyping and bias affecting female inmates in the corrections system (Freudenberg 2002). According to Covington (2007), when it comes to mental health, 73% of female inmates in state prisons display the signs of mental health disorders, compared to only 12% among the general population. 75% of those who meet the criteria for mental health disorders also display the symptoms of substance dependence or abuse (Covington 2007). This is probably why the largest percentage changes in delinquency have been noted in female youth (Cruise, Marsee, Dandreaux & DePrato 2007; Snyder & Sickmund 2006). However, the link between mental health complications and crimes committed by female offenders are beyond the scope of this discussion. More important is the current state of mental health in women-prisoners and its implications for the criminal justice processes affecting the corrections system. In this sense, the results reported by Cruise et al. (2007) are mostly similar to those found in Covington (2007); 73.8% of female youth serving short terms meet the criteria for at least one mental health diagnosis. By contrast, only 66.3% of male prisoners have similar problems (Cruise et al. 2007). It is interesting to note, that high prevalence of psychiatric disorders in women-offenders is one of the major features distinguishing them from male prisoners (Bloom & Covington 1998). Other distinguishing features include (a) low levels of violent offenses committed by women; (b) substance abuse problems; (c) single motherhood; and (d) poverty and lack of professional skills (Bloom & Covington 1998). Among psychiatric complications in female offenders, drug abuse and drug dependence is the most prevalent source of medical concern (Bloom & Covington 1998). In addition to drug dependence, almost every fifth female prisoner meets the criteria for a major depressive episode, including post-traumatic stress disorder (Teplin, Abram & McClelland 1996). The fact of being incarcerated does not reduce the risks of developing mental health disorders in women, and even at the time of release, many of them continue to display serious mental health disturbances, including sociopathy, drug dependence, hysteria, anxiety, neurosis, depression and subnormality (Daniel, Robins, Reid & Wilfley 1988). That women released from prison continue experiencing the symptoms of mental health disorders has far-reaching implications for understanding the nature of the criminal justice processes and their effects on female offenders. To a large extent, the criminal justice system is believed to be turning into a huge mental health facility for women-offenders (Bloom, Owen & Covington 2004). However, the ways in which women come to the criminal justice system. These ways differ greatly from those of men, which can in part explain reasons why women are so susceptible to the risks of mental health disorders. Unfortunately, contemporary theories of crime fail to acknowledge the specificity of female crime and factors driving women to commit illegal acts (Belknap 2001). This is also why women are persistently regarded as invisible participants of the criminal justice system, with their mental health and social problems. Nevertheless, even despite these problems, the growing prevalence of emotional dysfunction and dysregulation in women cannot be easily dismissed (Trupin, Stewart, Beach & Boesky 2002). 84% of females, compared to only 27% of male prisoners, display mental health disorders (Timmons-Mitchell, Brown, Schulz, Webster, Underwood & Semple 1997). Young women involved in the criminal justice system are almost by definition identified as those having a mental health complication (Melton & Pagliocca, PM 1992). The fact that women-prisoners display higher rates of personality disorders, mental handicaps, neuroses and substance abuse (Maden, Swinton & Gunn 1994) raises the question of the validity and reliability of the instruments used to assess women’s mental health state in the corrections system. Another question is whether or not the results of the statistical mental health analyses of women display gender prejudice and bias affecting the entire criminal justice system. Finally, even if women have higher prevalence of mental health disorders than male prisoners, does that automatically mean that women offenders are more likely to be referred to psychiatric counseling? All these questions require definite and substantial answers. Female offenders, criminal justice and corrections bias With so many women-offenders with the symptoms of mental health disorders, it comes as no surprise that modern corrections facilities are gradually turning into mental health institutions (Lord 2008). ‘It is the seriously and persistently mentally ill who are truly prison’s untouchables. In our prisons, just as in our society, the mentally ill are looked on as people it is best to keep at a distance’ (Lord 2008, p.930). In 2006 alone, U.S. prisons had three times more mental health prisoners than all mental health institutions in the country (Human Rights Watch 2006). This, in turn raises the dilemma of treatment versus punishment and exposes the long-standing dysfunctional beliefs about offending women. The current state of research does not provide any statistics with regard to the number of female offenders referred to psychiatric counseling. Most probably, the absence of such statistics implies that women-offenders are not referred to any psychiatric counselors, and incarceration is assumed to be the only possible way to clean women from their wrongdoings (Daniel et al. 1988). Another problem is in the reliability and validity of the instruments used to assess the mental health of women in the corrections and criminal justice systems. When Freudenberg (2002) says that crime theories have persistently ignored the nature and possible consequences of female crimes, it is possible to assume that the instruments used to assess women’s mental health state have an inherently gender-prejudiced character. For example, Travin, Cullen and Protter (1990) write that defining the most appropriate mental health diagnosis among female sex offenders is extremely problematic, as long as the motivational factors driving male and female offenders to commit crimes are dramatically distinct. For example, how should psychiatrists working in the criminal justice systems diagnose women offenders with paraphilia (Travin et al. 1990)? In order to be diagnosed as a paraphiliac and meet the criteria set by DSM-III-R, an individual should display the signs of distress and recurrent sexually intense urges for at least six months in a row (Travin et al. 1990). In other words, psychiatric counselors in the corrections system should observe the female inmate for at least six months, to confirm the absence or presence of paraphilia, which is hardly ever possible and hardly ever done. Likewise, and with many other mental health complications, the diagnosis is made based upon counselors’ and forensic psychologists’ clinical judgments that women engage or do not engage in this or that type of behaviors (Travin et al., 1990). Even when psychopathy checklists and tests are involved, their validity in female populations remains highly questionable (Vitale, Smith, Brinkley & Newman 2002). Many women are simply assumed to be mentally sick in advance, on the basis that they could not have committed a crime as cruel as sexual offense or murder (Smart 1977). ‘The point is that female delinquents are not perceived to me merely adopting behavior more usually associated with males, they are portrayed as being chromosomally or genetically abnormal’ (Smart 1977, p.9). Inherent in the explanation of female crime is the notion of individual pathology, which often predetermines positive mental health evaluation results in female offenders (Smart 1977). It is more natural for the society to regard female offenders as psychiatrically abnormal rather than mentally normal but criminal (Smart 1977). In case of more serious crimes, such as child molesting, it is better to consider women as mentally ill than conscious of the seriousness of the crime they have committed, as long as child molesting conflicts the established female role of care-giving (Rowan, Rowan & Langelier 1990). In the study of Rowan et al. (1990), none of the female sex offenders was found to be paraphilic, which confirms the presence and seriousness of mental health bias affecting female offenders. In this situation, those few who really have mental health complications are continuously deprived of even the simplest means of psychiatric counseling and leave the prison with a whole bunch of mental health complications (Travin et al. 1988). Punishment is replacing mental health care for women because of the fear of keeping people who break the law in mental health facilities under the pretext of mental illness (Okasha 2004). This is a unique paradox of gender prejudice and the fear of confusing mental health illness for mental health pretension in offenders alters the balance of the punishment versus treatment forces in the criminal justice landscape. Bearing in mind the lack of criminological gender-specific theories and poor understanding of female offenders’ mental health controversies, it is absolutely logical than corrections facilities cannot provide women with the amount of counseling and medical support needed to improve their health and well-being. In the current state of research, there are still too many questions concerning the nature of female crime and the common perceptions held by criminal justice professionals with regard to female offenders. The dilemma of punishment versus treatment remains unresolved, mostly due to the fears of unprofessional judgments and the absence of valid diagnostic instruments. As the number of female offenders increases, the criminal justice system should pay more attention to how female offenders are treated in corrections facilities and how their mental health state is evaluated and addressed. Conclusion The criminal justice system operates in the atmosphere of gender prejudices and bias. Female offenders are traditionally believed to display higher prevalence of mental health disorders. Major depressive episodes, post-traumatic stress disorders, and other mental health complications are claimed to plague female offenders in the corrections facilities. As a result, prisons and jails are gradually turning into mental health institutions for women. However, that female offenders are diagnosed with mental health disorders does not mean that they are referred to psychiatric counseling more than their male counterparts. Moreover, the mere fact that women are more susceptible to mental health risks than men raises the question of the validity and reliability of various diagnostic instruments. The criminal justice system has persistently neglected female offenders, their needs and the nature of female crime. As a result, criminal justice professionals should resolve the existing treatment versus punishment dilemma and develop new models of diagnosis and treatment in female offenders coming into the criminal justice system. References Belknap, J 2001, The invisible woman: Gender, crime, and justice, Belmont: Wadsworth. Bloom, BE & Covington, SS 1998, ‘Gender-specific programming for female offenders: What is it and why is it important?’, Paper presented at the 50th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Criminology. Bloom, B, Owen, B & Covington, S 2004, ‘Women offenders and the gendered effects of public policy’, Review of Policy Research, vol.21, no.1, pp.31-48. Covington, S 2007, ‘Women and the criminal justice system’, Women Health Issues, vol.17, no.4, pp.1-6. Cruise, KR, Marsee, MA, Dandreaux, DM & DePrato, DK 2007, ‘Mental health screening of female juvenile offenders: Replication of a subtyping strategy’, Journal of Childhood and Family Studies, vol.16, pp.615-625. 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