Juvenile Court Case Study

Improved Essays
Show More
I believe that the biggest legal liability in corrections today is the assessment, treatment, and management of those with mental illness. At this point in time, the legal system seems to be swamped with court cases regarding law enforcement and correctional facilities versus the treatment of mentally ill persons. In a 2006 Justice Department analysis, it was concluded that 1.2 million people that are in either state, local or federal custody reported some kind of mental health problem. What is staggering about the 1.2 million, is that it is now just a drop in the bucket, 9 years later.
“The criminal justice system; from police departments and jails, to courthouses and prisons, they has become the de facto caretakers for the mentally ill and …show more content…
U.S 1960, and again in Drope v. Missouri 1975; but also while housed within the correctional facilities. Many of the court cases dealing with the mental illness and the convicted person primarily deals with the treatment of the patient. There are also the court cases that cover the medical care, and the dispensing of necessary drugs. A significant United States Supreme Court case that deals with dispensing antipsychotic drugs to an inmate who is found to be dangerous to themselves or others is Washington v. Harper, 494 U.S. 210 (1990). This case was consequential in limiting a prisoners’ right to refuse treatment; this ruling meant that the needs of the institution takes precedence over the needs of the prisoners’ rights. To use this course of treatment, there also has to be a formal institutional hearing, and the prisoner has to be found a danger to self or others, diagnosed with a serious mental illness, and the mental health care professional must be able to claim that the medication prescribed is solely in the prisoner’s best interest. Riggins v. Nevada 1992; altered the wording a bit, by adding “less restrictive alternative” language which in turn requires the State to document that there are no behavioral, environmental, or other measures available that will be as equally effective as the

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Abolish Slavery Summary
    • 850 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Abolish Slavery Summary

    Even if a person is mentally stable, any time served in prison will increase his or her vulnerability to the development of mental illness. Also, policies and practices have turned our prisons into revolving-door treatment (or in many cases, non-treatment) facilities, and those that provide therapeutic remain short-terms, under-resourced and ineffective. To me, this signifies that social workers have critical roles to play in all aspects of correctional policy and operations, from entry to release, from creating smart and safe alternatives to monitoring prison practice and advocating and implementing preventive methods. Social work’s involvement should remain as complex as the criminal system, but never as closed and…

    • 850 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Superior Essays

    Kendra's Law Case Study
    • 1200 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Kendra's Law Case Study

    The pilot program not only evaluated an individual’s mental state, but also took into consideration their past history whether violence had been an issue or not. This program allowed for individuals to fight their case and refuse the mandatory intake of their medications. Another difference between these two programs the evaluation of the amount of times an individual required hospitalization due to the failure to comply with treatment. While the Pilot program only evaluated hospitalization over eighteen months, the Kendra law evaluated over a period of thirty-six months. Kendra’s law placed a significant value on the hospitalization, regardless whether the hospitalization had a direct association with the mental illness or not.…

    • 1200 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Mary Pfeiffer's A Death In The Box
    • 1267 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Mary Pfeiffer's A Death In The Box

    Pfeiffer’s article “A Death in the Box” discusses the unfortunate reality that the mentally ill are forced to face within the criminal justice system by detailing the life and tragic suicide of a young mentally ill woman named Jessica Roger. The article centers on the debate about the punishments given to mentally deficient inmates and reveals the main underlying problem the system faces in that “when people with mental illness end up in prison, the need to treat them collides with the need to keep prison order, and everything about the system favors the latter” (Pfeiffer 3). While maintaining order may seem to be more important at first glance, misinformation and improper treatment of the mentally ill inmates can lead to a worsening of the condition, behavior, or even physical and psychological harm to the people involved. Even worse that the neglectful actions the prisons exhibit when treating the patients, the disciplinary action enforced on those suffering from illness are unjust as the “mentally ill inmates are punished for exhibiting symptoms of illness that the system has failed to treat” (Pfeiffer 3). Therefore, not only does the criminal justice system neglect to provide the mentally ill with assistance and treatment, but also forces disciplinary action upon those they fail in the process leading to a population of mentally deficient inmates slowly having their life sucked away by a corrupt…

    • 1267 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    When Does Punishment Go Too Far?
    • 1049 Words
    • 5 Pages

    When Does Punishment Go Too Far?

    In 1986, the United States Supreme Court determined that the Eighth Amendment barred the execution of the insane; it prohibits cruel and unusual punishment (Liptak, 2003). It was argued that it a person should be spared of execution if they are delusional enough to not understand their own crime and why they are being sentenced to death. However, in 1990 the Supreme Court decided in favor forcing medication if it believed that a prisoner is at risk of harming themself or others. Due to this ruling Singleton was forced to take antipsychotics because it was determined to be at risk for harming himself because of his schizophrenia and illusions. I think that it is critical to protect prisoners from harm, regardless of what they have done, at the end of the day they are still a human being.…

    • 1049 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Superior Essays

    Juvenile Court Research Paper
    • 1533 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Juvenile Court Research Paper

    The first nation’s juvenile court was established in Cook County, Illinois. One of the first judge at the nation’s juvenile court, judge Julian Mack stated the goal for the early juvenile court would be that “The child… be made to know that he is face to face with the power of the state, and more emphatically, be made to feel that he is the object of its care and solicitude,” (Pa, Rt.). Although many people in the United States believe that juveniles should not be tried as adults it is more appropriate to teach juveniles a lesson because no one knows what their instincts are, and it can be a threat to society because they will always have that negative mentality in mind. What solutions are there to these situations, or can there be any resolution…

    • 1533 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
    Read More
  • Great Essays

    Summary Of The Film 'The Released'
    • 1559 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Summary Of The Film 'The Released'

    They have a hard time finding employment and finding the support they need in order to stay on a path to personal success. Many times these hardships lead them to behaviors and actions that inevitably send them back to jail or prison. This is especially true for those prisoners who suffer from severe mental illness. With over one million mentally ill inmates throughout America, it is said that most of them will return to jail or prison within 18 months from release do to transition…

    • 1559 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    The New Asylums Essay
    • 598 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The New Asylums Essay

    After viewing “The New Asylums”, there are many systematic problems, societal shifts, and/or changes in policies that have contributed to “The New Asylums”. One of the main societal shifts that have contributed to the “The New Asylums” is the nation’s shut down of psychiatric centers. This led to the police department to handle the mentally ill that were left on the streets leading to many arrests. However, a prison’s function is not to treat mentally ill patients; their role in society is to provide safety and security to the community. Nonetheless, the prisons do provide many services and treatments to accommodate the mentally ill.…

    • 598 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Prison Industrial Complex Case Study
    • 1919 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Prison Industrial Complex Case Study

    Our prisons are expanding each year rather than the mental health hospital that would treat mentally ill people. Lack of proper care and treatment, lack of social support pushes mentally ill into the prison system. Other than the shortage of psychiatric beds, mentally ill individuals enter the criminal justice system due to lack of interaction between them and law enforcement persons. When mentally ill is not manageable we place them into the prison. Moreover, the jails are to protect the society.…

    • 1919 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Mentally Ill Incarceration In Prison
    • 1027 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Mentally Ill Incarceration In Prison

    Prison Within the Mind Just within the years 2003 and 2015, the incarceration rates for the mentally ill have tremendously increased, that within a survey done on inmates it was found that “more than three times more seriously mentally ill persons in jails and prisons than in hospitals”,(Carroll). The percentage rate has enormously increased, yet the mental health treatments in prison have not changed in the last two decades, (Carroll). There is a need for change in such situations, as a result, that out of all the inmates with mental illnesses, 83% were denied access to proper treatment, (Jailing People With Mental Illnesses). With millions of people being incarcerated each year and as society becomes more exposed to mental illnesses, there…

    • 1027 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Solitary Confinement In The United States
    • 730 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Solitary Confinement In The United States

    Instead of providing treatment for mental illness symptoms, they are punished for bad behavior and often face indeterminate stays in solitary (Gordon, 2015). In a report by the Vera Institute of Justice, they found that prisoners were being subjected to solitary confinement for minor infractions such as not standing for a count, using offensive language, talking back to correctional officers, and failure to obey an order. These inmates made up 85% percent of inmates in solitary confinement in Illinois and Pennsylvania (Schlanger & Fettig,…

    • 730 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Mentally Ill People Should Stay In Prison
    • 1335 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Mentally Ill People Should Stay In Prison

    The United States has the highest incarceration rate in all of the world. (Lee, Michelle Ye Hee) This statistic is simply startling taking into consideration that the United States does not have the highest population. In the total population of inmates contained in the United States, about 356,000 suffer from severe mental illness (Torrey EF, Zdanowicz MT, Kennard AD et al.)…

    • 1335 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Mentally Ill Offenders Essay
    • 1063 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Mentally Ill Offenders Essay

    On average, twenty percent of inmates in jails and fifteen percent of inmates in prisons have been diagnosed with a serious mental illness (Z. K. Torrey). In comparison, there are ten times less mentally ill individuals residing in psychiatric institutions than there are in prisons. The fact that the correctional system has become the primary treatment for the mentally ill should be deeply concerning to not only those affected by mental illness, but all of…

    • 1063 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Great Essays

    Essay On Mental Illness In Prison
    • 2016 Words
    • 9 Pages

    Essay On Mental Illness In Prison

    Correctional officers are held legally responsible to analyze their prisoner’s mental health needs; which includes the delivery of medications, treatment, and other forms of therapy (Osher et al.). By refusing to comply with the law and neglecting to arrange mental health services to the mentally challenged during custody, the United States government has failed to protect and defend many of its citizens. Criminals with mental disorders may be as guilty as the convicted felon who committed first- degree murder, but they should be treated differently in the criminal justice system. For, they have the mental capacity of an ignorant child and their disorder should be accounted for when imprisoned. “Many individuals with behavioral health disorder under correctional control have diverse and complicated needs, but with appropriate supervision and services, they are capable of recovery and ending their criminal justice involvement” (Osher at al.).…

    • 2016 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Great Essays
    Read More
  • Superior Essays

    The Importance Of Mental Health Courts
    • 1185 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The Importance Of Mental Health Courts

    The amount of individual that go through the criminal justice system that have a mental illness has become a growing issue in the criminal justice system. Many individual that enter the criminal justice system are bound to end up in prison, where they have little access to mental health help. The amount of individual that enter the criminal justice system that have a serious mental illness is estimated to be 16.9 percent. These individuals are usually repeat offenders that circulate through the system because they do not receive the treatment that they need. (Almquist & Dodd, 2009).…

    • 1185 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Ethical Issues In Juvenile Justice
    • 1230 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Ethical Issues In Juvenile Justice

    The juvenile justice population has a high rate of inmates with mental disorders. In the last few decades, mental illness diagnoses have greatly increased. Many ill youths enter the criminal justice system and are put into juvenile detention centers, the juvenile justice system’s version of jail, due to their disruptive behavior (Holman & Ziedenberg, 2006). Many troubled youth and their families do not have access to local mental facilities, or proper medication to aid them. Poor access to resources can greatly increase tensions, puts strains on families, and even can be physically threatening.…

    • 1230 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More

Related Topics

Ready To Get Started?
Discover
Company
Follow
©2024 Cram.com
Privacy Policy |  Cookie Policy |  About Ads |  Site Map |  Advertise  | 
  • Cookie Settings