CJ1003 Mental Health and the Criminal Justice System
Instructions
Before submitting your Assessment, carefully review the rubric. This is the same rubric the assessor will use to evaluate your submission and it provides detailed criteria describing how to achieve or master the Competency. Many students find that understanding the requirements of the Assessment and the rubric criteria help them direct their focus and use their time most productively. Hire Fix My GPA to help you complete your online class
Mental Health Issues and Criminal Acts
For this assessment, you analyze case studies that feature issues related to mental health and crime. Then, in 1,500–2,000 words, respond to the following:
Explain how to distinguish between mental illness and criminality, using examples from the case studies to illustrate the difference.
Explain how the criminal justice system has typically or “traditionally” addressed an offender who has committed a crime due to a mental health issue, using examples from the case studies to illustrate the difference.
Explain how the contemporary criminal justice system addresses an offender who commits a crime due to a mental health issue, using examples from the case studies to illustrate your response. For example, address the following issues:
How should the responding officer proceed? Hire Fix My GPA to help you complete your online class
How should this person be processed through the criminal justice system?
What are the appropriate charges, if any?
How should the judge at the arraignment hearing proceed?
Explain whether you agree or disagree with the following statement: The criminal justice system has an ethical obligation to rehabilitate or treat offenders suffering from mental illness.
What is the role of the criminal justice system regarding these types of incidents?
In addition to using the case studies to help illustrate your responses, reference your learning resources to support your responses.
CJ1003 Mental Health and the Criminal Justice System Answer
Mental Health Issues and Criminal Acts
Explain how to distinguish between mental illness and criminality, using examples from the case studies to illustrate the difference.
With multiple cases of the mass shooting and criminal activities across the United States, the question of the relationship between criminality and mental illness is a key topic in the justice system. This begs the question of how to differentiate between criminal behavior and mental illness. According to Vogel, Stephens, & Siebels, (2014) the prevalence of mental illness in the United States among adults is around 20%. This is with 4% of this population suffering from severe mental illness (Vogel, Stephens, & Siebels, 2014). This fact does not mean these are violent individuals, but rather it is a fact that mental illness can impair human decisions leading to criminal activities.
Apart from mental illness and psychological issues, there are other factors leading to criminality in society. They include substance abuse, social demographic, and economic factors. Therefore, mental illness is just a factor among many in cases of criminality. To understand criminal behavior motivated by mental illness, the Durham test and the Brawner rule are some of the standards for testing insanity.
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