Are People with Mental Health Problem at Increased Risk of Violent Offending - Essay Example

Are People with Mental Health Problem at Increased Risk of Violent Offending? Student’s Name Institution Date Are People with Mental Health Problem at Increased Risk of Violent Offending? Many mental health experts have argued that there is a link between mental health problems and violent offenses. This paper agrees with the argument that mental health problems make patients more compulsive and this makes them more likely to engage in different types of violent acts. There are different types of mental health conditions that affect people in different societies. These mental disorders drive people to engage in violent and destructive habits which they may or may not have control over. This paper will review different empirical studies to validate this argument to show that mental health problems increase the risk of violent offending in different environments. Gregory (2004) argues that there are causal links between mental health disorders and violent behaviour (p. 34). He relied on information gathered from four cross sectional studies conducted on psychiatric patients to come with his conclusions. In his study, he found out that about 20% of patients who had been diagnosed with different mental health complications had engaged in violent actions. He argues that patients who have been diagnosed with mental health complications are at risk of taking part in violent actions against other people. He reveals that studies have shown that about 25% of people suffering from different mental health complications discharged from hospital are at risk of getting involved in different violent incidents. They do not have the capacity to understand the gravity of their actions which makes them potential security risks. Studies carried out in different criminal justice systems in the UK show relationships between mental disorders and violent offences. These studies reveal that schizophrenia is one of the most common mental health disorders afflicting homicide convicts in different prison systems. Gregory (2004) further reveals that 28% of 52 homicides that occurred between 1900 and 1979 in Iceland were done by people who had a history of mental disorders (p. 34). These research findings show that mental health disorders drive people to commit violent felonies in different locations. A study done on 693 homicide convicts in Finland found out that male convicts were eight times more prevalent to schizophrenia than female convicts. The study argued that male convicts diagnosed with schizophrenia had a higher possibility of getting involved in different violent activities. Many people who go through various legal systems are diagnosed with one or more types of mental disorders which make them act violently. The prevalence of people with different psychiatric conditions is higher in people incarcerated in different prison facilities compared to that registered in general populations. A study done in Manchester magistrates court in 1999 found that 1.31% of defendants awaiting trial who had been arrested from their communities had mental health problems. 6.57% of inmates confined in police cells before their arraignment were also diagnosed with mental disorders. The 99 patients who had been surveyed with mental disorders were divided into different categories. 34 of these individuals were suffering from schizophrenia while 55 had been diagnosed with depression. A large majority of the 55 patients were diagnosed as being suicidal (Prins, 2005, p. 335). This shows they were likely to get involved in different violent actions such as murder and physical fights. The study showed that the court system was not well equipped to detect different mental health issues which different criminal suspects were facing. The study recommended that prison and other criminal system employees need to be equipped with effective skills to help them detect different types of mental conditions that affect convicts. Many people have negative perceptions towards mental health patients because they think that mental disorders make patients more violent and aggressive. There are misconceptions arising from popular culture which have been used to reinforce this fear in many people. The media has often portrayed serial killers and other violent offenders as people who suffer from different forms of mental disorders. Prins (2005) reveals that the attention directed by the media towards serious crimes committed by violent offenders has reinforced the belief that mental health patients are irrational and are easily provoked (p. 340). This has contributed to the stigma attached to mental health disorders. Many health experts have not been able to conclusively show relationships between mental disorders and violent crimes. Experts in different health settings have focused more on detection rather than prevention when dealing with different risks mental health patients get exposed to. They are guided by the misconception that mental health problems are difficult to treat because traditionally, people suffering from different mental disorders have been shunned by other people. In essence, this has compounded the situation facing patients because they have not been able to get appropriate interventions to help them deal with different types of mental disorders they are facing. Prins (2005) argues that different mental disorders have different effects on psychiatric conditions of patients who are affected by them (p. 351). The stigma that has been reinforced in people’s minds regarding mental health disorders needs to be demystified. This will make more people to expand their knowledge on mental health issues that affect different people in the society. There is evidence that suggests that mental health patients diagnosed with schizophrenia are more likely to commit violent crimes compared to other mentally ill patients suffering from other mental disorders. A study done in Denmark on 335,900 patients born between 1st January 1944 and 31st December 1947 showed that there were more than 1, 143 males suffering from schizophrenia. The study also showed that 129 of these males had been taken into custody after committing a violent offence. It also showed that the probability of them getting arrested for a violent offense was 5 times higher than that of people who were not suffering from schizophrenia. The study also showed that 680 women had been diagnosed with schizophrenia out of the same sample. 19 of these women had been arrested for violent offenses and the probability of them getting arrested for a violent crime was 23 times higher than that of other women who did not suffer from schizophrenia (Brennan, Mednick & Hodgins, 2000, p. 495). The study above confirms that schizophrenia is one of the most common mental disorders that afflict violent offenders. However, there are other factors that make mental health patients to commit violent crimes in different societies. The study also shows that very few women suffering from schizophrenic disorders are likely to get involved in different violent crimes. This study shows that more male patients that suffer from schizophrenia are likely to be arrested for violent crimes than women suffering from the same mental disorder. However, the small number female violent offenders that suffer from mental disorders are likely to be involved in violent crimes more often than their male counterparts. The study reveals that female offenders suffering from schizophrenic disorders are easily trapped into a web of criminality which they are not able to escape from. Therefore, they are likely to be involved in constant violent actions which are likely to harm other innocent people (Brennan, Mednick & Hodgins, 2000, p. 497). There are other risk factors which drive people with mental disorders to commit violent crimes. The MacArthur Violence Risk Assessment Study carried out in the US showed that bipolar patients were more likely to engage in violent acts compared to schizophrenic patients. People suffering from different depression disorders had a higher risk of committing violent crimes. Stuart (2003) reveals that 14.8% of schizophrenic patients were involved in violent actions compared to 22.0% of bipolar and 28.5% of depression patients surveyed (p. 121). The study also revealed that patients suffering from different types of delusions were less likely to commit violent acts, contrary to findings made by previous studies. Even though delusions make some patients more paranoid, delusive patients are less likely to resort to violent actions. The study concluded that there are other environmental risk factors which have an affect on violent crime rates in different regions. The MacArthur Study shows that more than 80% of victims of violence acts committed by mentally ill patients are likely to be family members and friends (Stuart, 2003, p. 123). The study argues that mentally ill patients discharged from different health facilities are more likely to commit violent actions against their friends and family members than strangers. The probability of mentally ill patients targeting family members was found to be 22.2% while complete strangers was 10.7%. The study’s findings reveal that mental health patients are more likely to target family members due to hostile relations that exist between them. They are also likely to be driven by financial reasons especially when they feel that their close relatives are not meeting their financial needs. For instance, substance abuse patients are more likely to attack their close family members if they are addicted to various substances. Such addicts need constant sources of finance to enable them purchase such substances. Wareham and Boots (2012) conducted a review to study the relationships between mental health disorders and youth violence (p. 1006). Their tests concluded that there are significant numbers of youths who go through criminal justice systems that experience various psychological conditions. The study showed that 46% of male youths surveyed had been diagnosed with two or more types of psychological conditions compared to 57% of females surveyed. The study revealed that a combination of anxiety and stress disorders contribute towards recidivism in youth, and these have an impact on their overall mental state. Adolescent girls who have been incarcerated one or more times showed symptoms of anxiety disorders and depression. The study showed different depressive complications in youth who had gone through the criminal justice system were likely to make them repeat offenders. Other causes that impact youth delinquency were also highlighted. Family conflicts drive young people into crime because youths who have been abused by their parents or other relatives are likely to engage in violent offenses. Their minds are conditioned to accept violence as normal which makes it easy for them to turn from victims into abusers. Youths who are brought up in environments where one or more family members engage in violent crimes are easily drawn into a criminal lifestyle. They are likely to be lured into crime due to poverty, gang affiliation and other social problems they face in their home environments. These young people grow up environments that are full of deviancy, which is taken as a normal occurrence by people living there (Wareham and Boots, 2012, p. 1011). As a result, they develop antisocial traits that make them resort to delinquent actions which are not positive for their mental wellbeing. References Brennan, P., Mednick, S., & Hodgins, S. (2000). Major mental disorders and criminal violence in a Danish birth cohort. Archives of General Psychiatry, 57, 494-500. Gregory, N. (2004). The link between mental health and violent behaviour. Nursing Times, 100 (14), 34. Retrieved 21st Sept. 2013 from http://www.nursingtimes.net/home/clinical-zones/mental-health/the-link-between-mental-health-problems-and-violent-behaviour/204481.article Prins H. (2005). Mental disorder and violent crime: A problematic relationship. The Journal of Community and Criminal Justice, 52(4), 333-357. Stuart, H. (2003). Violence and mental illness: An overview. World Psychiatry, 2(2), 121-124. Wareham, J., & Boots, D.P. (2012). The link between mental health problems and youth violence in adolescence: A multilevel test of DSM- oriented patients. Criminal Justice and Behaviour, 39(8), 1003-1024. Read More