Sentencing of People with Mental Disorders - Essay Example

?   Sentencing of People with Mental Disorders [School Affiliation] Offense and sentencing are two terms whichhave been going side by side since many centuries. Even in the old days when there were no judicial courts or law keeping agencies, there has always been an informal system of reprimanding on the faulty actions of an individual or a group of individuals. Sentencing: It is the judicial decision or a formal court judgment pronounced upon someone who is adjudged guilty of criminal proceedings and the punishment that is imposed. It is a well thought out, final act which declares the charged person's period of imprisonment, punishment or fine etc. It can also be defined as the authoritative decree of the punishment of a convicted person (Birmingham, 2002). Under this context, criminals or people who are found guilty of committing some crime have to face the consequences of their actions and the decision making is in the hands of an authoritative power which decides the penalties for the offenders. These decisions are made on the basis of a set of rules which are operating in the area where the crime has been committed. The rules and punishments are same for everyone irrespective of their color, caste or creed, but there are some special circumstances where these rules have to be tweaked. Same is the case with the people who are not mentally fit; their sentencing differs from criminals of normal medical conditions. Mental Disorders: A disorder can be termed as functional abnormality. Mental disorders comprise of a wide range of derangements in behavioral or psychological functions. These are mainly a combination of abnormal thoughts, emotions, and relationships with others. This psychological instability and disruption in the equilibrium of motions is often reflected in the behavior of the affected individual. The set of laws and the law enforcement agencies work in different ways all over the world; the decision and punishment of mentally disabled criminals basically depends on the local area where they have been convicted. The Effect of the Selected Sentencing Policy on All Involved Stakeholders: No matter what laws regarding mentally disordered convicts is operational in certain areas, the decisions taken and the results of the sentence always affect the stakeholders one way or the other. Stakeholders: A stakeholder can be an individual or a group of people as well. A stakeholder is a party that is affected by or can affect the actions of the project at hand. In law enforcement, the stakeholders can be: Judiciary Probation and parole services Social service organizations Mental hospitals and treatment facilities Community etc. Even though according to The Task Force, created by the American Bar Association a person should not be sentenced to death or executed if at the time of the offense he/she was suffering from a mental disorder or was mentally challenged in a such a serious way that reflects in his/her behavioral and social adaptive skills. Even after these rules have been set, they are not applicable to all circumstances and some counties and their legal systems do not implement upon them. Furthermore the second rule of The Task Force states that offenders should not be executed or sentenced to death of at the time of the offense they had no awareness of the nature of the crime and the consequences associated with it. If they are mentally impaired and cannot exercise rational judgment or do not have any idea about the lawful actions that might be taken as a result of the crime, then in all these cases the guilty person should not be executed or sentenced to death as s/he is mentally challenged (Tabak, 2006). Criminals with mental disorders are released after a small period of incarceration. The period of incarceration depends upon the severity of the mental disorder and the nature of the crime. After that period, such people are often shifted to community centers, mental hospitals, or other treatment facilities. Mostly, the people suffering from mental disorders do not want to go to mental treatment facilities after they have been freed. They escape from such centers and run amok in the society. Chiefly, the legal frameworks which support the treatment of mental patients in medical organizations are merely detention plans for dangerous mental patients. Effects on Judiciary: All these have lasting and direct impacts on the various stakeholders involved. The biggest reforms took place in the judicial department as new sentencing methodology, and sets of laws are being formed with the recognition of the mitigation of sentences for people with serious mental disorders. In cases other than killing and manslaughter, there has been a debate on the availability of alternative ways of sentential people with mental disabilities, for example use of hospital orders etc. Treatment of people with mental illnesses led to a reform in the legislative departments, which discussed the mitigation of sentences for people suffering from mental disorders. Effects on probation/parole services: Not executing criminals with mental disorders means more services from the law enforcement agencies and in this case the probation and parole services. Even though there is a shift from incarceration now that Deinstitutionalization has been recognized as a better and more humane method of punishment and recovery, yet there are still thousands of mental patients who end up getting detained in prisons or spend their incarceration period with other criminals. These people may be of danger to the other inhabitants of the prison as well to their own selves. It is the job of these services to ensure that the patients are performing well in their probation; any unusual activity should be reported at once. USA is a country with the highest rate of incarceration so the conditions of mental patients inside the prisons should be monitored closely. These services become more alert and active by the new law structure about the sentencing of people with mental disorders as otherwise they would have been executed or given the same treatment as other criminals, but now with the recognition of new laws for people with mental disorders, the parole and probation services are also getting evolved. They are based on teams of qualified people who have know-how of how to deal with people suffering from these disorders. Effects on Social Service Organizations: There are still a large number of people who do not classify mental patients as a separate entity; they consider them similar to other criminals and are not in the favor of mitigating their punishments. People with mental disorders are under a looming threat from those people; sometimes medical facilities are used as alternatives for incarceration. Some patients are kept there without their own will. With the reformations in the law structure of people with mental disorders, a new awareness has arisen in social service organizations. They also include charitable organizations and private foundations. These groups and organizations support the rights of people with mental disorders and raise their voices against the captivity of patients in medical facilities without their will. Effects on Mental Hospitals and Treatment Facilities: Previously, most of the treatment of mental patients was done in closed or isolated medical institutions. Patients were cut off from the society, living alone in deterring conditions. Now that new laws have been devised for the patients, medical facilities have started improving as well. The biggest reform in the traditional system of mental hospitals is introduction of deinstitutionalization. This process has revolutionized the old long stay mental hospital care into community medical health centers which are not isolated from the society and where patients can receive therapy and care without being forced or intimidated. These community health centers have two basic aims: one is to reduce the ever growing size of mental hospitals so that patients are not neglected and/or mistreated due to over population. The second goal is to achieve better results and remove hopelessness from the environment of the institution as these feelings trigger the disorders, and patients are more likely to be aggravated and be a threat to themselves and their fellow inhabitants (Monahan, Swartz & Bonnie, 2003). These facilities also maintain an atmosphere where patients do not feel confined in a dull place and they are not forced to stay there without their will. They are also helping in inducing the feelings of incapacitation so that the patients not only recover from their faulty activities and judgments but also gain the ability and perspective to not repeat those mistakes again. The medical institutions which were once used to torture and punish people with mental disorders are now used for the beneficial purpose of rehabilitation. Effects on Community: The effects of the mitigation of sentencing of people with mental disorders on the community are not so positive as yet. People are not enough aware to accept the fact that people with mental disorders are patients too. They are not yet ready to differentiate between common criminals and offenders suffering from mental disorders. The patients are not really helping to convince them as well. Various surveys show that people suffering from mental disorders are more involved in homicide cases than people with normal mental caliber and activity. Schizophrenic people also are more prone to committing homicide; in particular those mentally disordered people who have not received any treatment for their medical conditions are involved in such activities (Appleby, 2006). These facts outrage and frighten the public at the same time as does the knowledge that potential killers are roaming around them freely. In Britain the local people are very concerned about the activities of mentally disordered criminals which have been discharged into the community. Few incidents have been highlighted by the media which left a lasting imprint on the minds of people. Further research has showed that these public acts of violence have been triggered due to the negligence of the patients and carelessness from the clinical management along with lack of interaction between patients and medical institutional staff (Coid, 1996). The Role of Courts in Creating or Enforcing the Policy: The courts play a very vital role in creating and enforcing the policy because they are the main sources of the development of case law structures and jurisprudence regarding mentally disordered offenders. The criminal justice system with respect to mental disordered offenders is a complex topic and has always been a subject of great discussion. The courts not only discuss the policies governing the rules for the law structure of the sentencing of these people, but it also ensures whether or not these rules are being implemented. The courts deal with when and how much mitigation of the sentence is required, and the degree of the offender's culpability. Another main role of the court is to think up alternatives for mentally disordered offenders; if they are not going to be executed on health basis, receive death penalties, or be imprisoned for a long duration, then it is the court's job to think about the alternative sources where they can be rehabilitated. The methodology of sentencing mentally disordered offenders has changed dynamically. As new psychological doors were opened and the horizons were broadened, it was essential to change and radicalize the methodology of sentencing as well. The focus from punishment has shifted towards treatment and rehabilitation so that the offender gets cured from the problem as much as possible. Deinstitutionalization has become possible due to the law framing and efforts of the courts. Some courts are taking radical steps by setting targets or by making some firm aims and standing by them. The Australian courts have put forward some aims and objectives of sentencing regarding these patients; they include rehabilitation and retribution etc. Another major task of the courts is to make sure that whether or not the penalty suggested is fair and applicable to all situations and circumstances. This should be maintained carefully as per the proportionality between penalty and seriousness of the offense. The key point of the case law the courts have established is that at the time of the offense, the offender was not in such a mental state so as to differentiate between right and wrong and to think about the consequences of his actions (Traynor, 2002). The courts use the help and assistance of various other fields, like medical treatment facilities and law enforcement in the implementation; in other cases they declare the verdict themselves. Recommendations: The deinstitutionalization system is an innovative and effective method but even with this, the discovery something is still missing. Following are some recommendations for the betterment of the already existing policy. Better coordination between the patients and the management staff of either the hospital or the incarceration centers Better medical and therapeutically care of the patients Raising awareness amongst the public about mental disorders of these people Better security and observation to keep a check on the newly released mentally disordered prisoners. Mental disorders are psychological problems which can only be cured by sharing experiences and opening up. If the clinical staff and the probation and parole staff distance themselves from these patients, then many problems can arise due to lack of liaison, and similarly a lot of trouble can be saved if there is better coordination among individuals and groups. Medical centers and mental hospitals should not be used as alternative modes of punishment. They should be restricted to fulfilling the medical and mental needs of the patients, and helping them in refraining from indulging in such activities further on. Another very important issue is the ignorance of society on this topic. What people fail to realize is that if a physically disabled or handicapped person deserves attention and time, so does a person who is facing mental challenges. Lack of coordination leaves no outlet for venting off the emotions and feelings which result in making the patients frustrated. They repeat their previous faulty acts in frustration which causes further fear in the people, so it is the duty of the hospital personnel or the law enforcement to keep in check where the patients are. These are a few recommendations and their explanation which can prove helpful in solving this dilemma of criminal justice and mental disorders. References Appleby, L. (2006). Rates of mental disorder in people convicted of homicide. 143-147. Retrieved 6 March, 2012 from: 10.1192/bjp.188.2.143 Birmingham, L. (2002). Detaining dangerous people with mental disorders Coid, J. (1996). Dangerous patients with mental illness: Increased risks warrant new policies, adequate resources, and appropriate legislation Retrieved 6 March, 2012 from: 10.1136/bmj.312.7036.965 Monahan, J., Swartz, M., & Bonnie, R. (2003). Mandated treatment in the community for people with mental disorders 28-38. Retrieved 6 March, 2012 from: 10.1377/hlthaff.22.5.28 Tabak, R. (2006). Executing people with mental disabilities: How we can mitigate an aggravating situation. Traynor, S. (2002). Sentencing mentally disordered offenders: The causal link. An Analysis of New South Wales Sentencing Statistics and Related issues Read More