The Relationship Between Mental Disorder and Offending - Essay Example

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MENTAL DISORDERS AND OFFENDING   By Location A and Evaluation of the Relationship between Mental Disorder and Offending Description Mental disorders are illnesses that have a great impact on the normal functioning in terms of thoughts, feelings and behaviour in a person. Mental disorders are often associated with malfunctions in particular regions of the brain or the nervous system. For instance, schizophrenia, personality disorders, somatoform disorders, but a few. Making an offence could be described from a variety of perspectives. However, it is based on two ideologies; hurting a persons feelings by violating their rights to an extent or committing a crime through breaking the law of ones country. For instance, crimes as negligible as stealing a neighbours hammer to crimes as complex as serial killing. The term crime is quite complex as it is and could be evaluated from a couple of avenues on the basis of time, place, age and mental health stability. All the same, crime does have many variables to it; it can be judged and looked into from various perspectives. To start with, what could be a crime in one country is likely not to be in another, for instance, on the basis of age. In one country a criminal act carried out by a child could be punishable as an offence while in another country, it could be judged that the child is not responsible and old enough to know what a crime is or is not. However, in a country like Scotland a child is considered responsible for any criminal offence at the age of 8. Furthermore, Criminal offences also vary across religions and cultures; For instance, committing adultery is punishable by death in the Muslim religion, yet in Christianity, it occurs almost on a daily basis and people shed some sort of blind eye (Woods, Oliver & Banyard 2009, p.19). Criminal acts further vary over time and circumstance; in a real sense it is a crime all over the World to kill a fellow human being, however in times of war this is not applicable. A question of concern is exactly how this happens, what fundamental of killing another now changes so that it looks permissible. In the UK, in the early 1960s homosexuality was considered a criminal act that attracted punishment as harsh as hard labour to prison sentences across times. However, in 1967, it was legalized for adults over 21 years in private. This reflects that criminal offences have revolved and have been debated over so as to stay in touch with current times; old laws can no longer apply to current day happenings. Evaluation One of the links between mental health and offending is the intention of the crime committed. A Crime is not a crime if it fails to illustrate that the person did indeed intend to commit it. If the offender does have a comprehensive understanding of what it is they have done. Unless the offender can attest to the fact that it was on their wish, voluntary and well informed choice to break the law, then their judgement at the time of the crime is considered to have been poor thus a psychological assessment is often recommended by the Court of law. To gauge if the offender was in their right state of mind when they were doing what they did. This is to say that chances are that any offender who is found to be mentally ill will escape punishment because it is then judged that this person as not fully in control of their own behaviour. This only translates into the fact that an individual to be in a position of following the law or co-existing with others well without offending them, this person must have an understanding of what is right and what is wrong. In short, this person must be in a position to understand what their personal choices may consequently result in. Today, Everywhere in the world and every other day, consequences of peoples personal choices relating to sexual proclivities, violence, war, vandalism and petty crimes of the inner city streets are witnessed ( Thompson 2006, p.1).All the same for a behaviour to be actualized then some thought process of some sort is likely to have happened. Therefore, a persons thought patterns on the basis of their beliefs and motivations do in the long run affect how they behave. Personality being the consistent patterns of thoughts and behaviours in a person has to come into perspective when bridging the gap between mental disorders and offending. Personality however does go beyond the person to influences form the environment with some personality factors being inherited. Therefore, of question is whether there are people who have a criminal personality; coming from the aspect of thought influencing behaviour, what is the possibility that criminals do have irrational, unusual or even abnormal thinking patterns (Woods, Oliver & Banyard 2009, p.21).It is further said that the root of criminality is founded on how criminals think and make their decisions with regards to perpetrating an offence. The most relevant personality type is the antisocial- personality disorder, individuals suffering from this disorder tend to be violators and transgressors of peoples rights. In essence, they are the law breakers, offensive, outrageous and obnoxious people who do whatever they feel like, having no regard whatsoever for the rights of others, the worst part is that they never seem to feel guilty about it (Hansell & Damour 2008, p. 410).It is due to their personality that these individuals feel compelled to break the law regardless of what it costs them. They will hence engage in all sorts of misconducts not concerned for others, if anything, it pleases and boosts their self-esteem to do such acts. They are mostly involved in stealing of cars, burning down and vandalizing other peoples property and such like. When such a person suffering from antisocial personality disorder is arrested a psychological assessment is demanded, thus a personality test like Eysenck Personality Inventory is likely to be administered. From such a test high scoring in extraversion, neuroticism and psychoticism are associated with crime and in the long- run these individuals’ criminal actions are judged from the perspective that there was a mental disorder in play when committing the crime. Therefore, prosecution ends up being extremely lenient in comparison to the crime and at times no legal action is taken. This is due to the general idea that such an individual at the time of the crime was not in a capacity to reason out in a logical manner; hence the criminal offence. The link between offending and mental disorders is further brought into perspective by how functional or dysfunctional a person’s brain is. It is now acknowledged that criminal behaviour may be as a result of brain dysfunction on the basis of damage, abnormalities in brain structure or disturbances in brain chemistry (neurochemicals).The human brain is made up of millions of cells, all the same neurons are considered to be the functional cells of the brain. They process information and transmit it across to a transmitter substance (neurotransmitters) which in turn travels across the synaptic cleft and if appropriate, binds with receptors on the post synaptic membrane in turn activating the post synaptic cell. At times the transmitter substance is often unavailable due to certain eventualities in the brain or at times loses its ability to bind to the post synaptic cell. This could then manifest as a mental disorder as will be illustrated. The serotonin neurotransmitter is often associated with depression in that low levels of serotonin could result in depression. If an individual suffers from depression, then the criminal acts would have the theme of despair intertwined in them. For instance, if a man murders his entire family because he has no means to provide for them; and an analysis is carried out only to prove this, as judgment is passed in court his mental instability will be kept in perspective by the judge. Schizophrenia, a disorder of thoughts is characterized by disorganized and bizarre behaviours. It is said to be as a result of excess secretion of the dopamine neurotransmitter in specific areas in the brain. Excess dopamine tends to act as a filter of any information concerned with affect and certain types of memory projections from the hippocampus, hypothalamus and frontal cortex; ultimately the difficulty in processing thoughts. If an individual suffering from schizophrenia commits an offence, in the same way lenience will be applied because of his mental instability. The brain structure is also quite important when it comes to mental disorders; it is said to perform three important functions (to want, to feel and to think).The frontal lobes (wanting) are important for executive skills such as setting goals, problem solving, impulse control, determination, focus and the need to achieve. In one way or another the frontal lobes help in creating personality and behavioural control in a person, they are important. The diencephalon (feeling) is another part of the brain located behind the nose; it however is involved in heart functions, breathing, sleeping, hunger, thirst and emotional aspects. The cerebral cortex (thinking) does play a role in thinking, all our thoughts stem from it. Paying attention to the aspect of how thoughts influence behaviour, then it does shed light in a case where a persons cerebral cortex is damaged, then it only means that thinking is inhibited, thus reason and logic are irrelevant, this would in turn result in hideous criminal acts. Any mental disorder that stems from the malfunctioning of the brain is termed as an organic disorder because it is the brain that has resulted in abnormal behaviour. A real case scenario of how brain structure if affected could result in a criminal act is illustrated in Charles Whitmans case; he was a student in Texas University pursuing architectural engineering; however, in 1966. He happened to shoot forty-seven people within his range, killing sixteen (his wife and mother included) of these. He was also shot down by the American police, after a study by the forensic pathologists, they discovered that he had a tumour in the hypothalamus region of his brain; this tumour in turn was pressing on the amygdala. The amygdala is a part of the brain that regulates aggressive behaviour, this student appeared angry and mad yet in a real sense he had a rare brain malfunction (Woods, Oliver & Banyard 2009, p. 25) .The frustration- aggression hypothesis explains this too well; frustration is the stimulus and aggression is the response. Frustration often occurs when we are unable to achieve our goals which in turn results in aggression that is often displaced onto others (Woods 2006, p. 51). Conclusion Ultimately, it is true to say that there is a great relationship between mental disorders and offending. Mental disorders reflect lack of control, unusual and irrational thoughts as well as abnormal behaviour; this goes to explain the hideous criminal acts that the mentally ill engage in. Mental disorders have been seen to be stemming from the brain in most cases, hence once the brain is affected then criminal behaviour can be said not to be too far off. I mean, if a person reaches a point where they can no longer process thoughts or control their impulses then it only means that socially unacceptable behaviour (stealing from others, assaulting policemen) becomes their new norm; they are not in control, they are insane’. In the long run, at times, mentally ill offenders do get locked up with the rest, but the question is whether this is appropriate or not. It is important, though, to ensure that they get the appropriate treatment like hospitalization, necessary medication and therapies like counselling. It is true that they do need psychological assistance that will in the long run assist them in knowing how to cope other than through breaking the law and indulging in criminal offences. Locking them up after conviction may have very little or no impacts on the thoughts and subsequent behaviour they will still reflect. This is not to say that mental disorders are the only ones that result in criminal behaviour, but the truth of the matter is that they do play a larger role; thus cannot be separated from offending. Bibliography Barbara, W., Oliver, K & Banyard, P 2009 Psychology First, 3rd edn, Hodder Education, London. Barbara, W 2006 Psychology First, 2nd edn, Hodder Education, London. Hansell, J & Lisa, D 2008 Abnormal Psychology, 2nd edn, John Wily & sons, Jefferson City. Thompson, M 2006 Ethics, 4th edn, McGraw- Hill Ryerson, Ontario. Read More