Mental Illness: Stigma Through Criminalization

In the fall semester of my freshman year of college, I took a course about the criminal justice system in a sociological aspect. I came into college knowing that I was interested in psychology and medicine. I looked forward to exploring those subjects and possibly majoring in both. Therefore, while the class was investigating the collective system, I was more interested in individual players. As an intended psychology major, I realized that it was important to look at both levels. During one class, there was a statistic on the PowerPoint that most likely every other student overlooked, but it just kept replaying in my mind. It displayed the rate of mentally ill individuals in the American criminal justice system. The amount surprised me and made me wonder what stance the United States criminal justice system is taking regarding mental health.

The sociology lesson that day was important to me because it made me start to think of help versus harm. During that class, I learned that as of 2014, 15% of the inmates in jails and 20% of inmates in state prisons are considered mentally ill (Torrey et al). Although the statistic has been increasing for decades, it is not representative of society. From the article “The treatment of persons with mental illness in prisons and jails: A state survey” by Torrey et al, we see that more people with mental illnesses are in the system than are in state hospitals. “This means that there are approximately 356,000 inmates with serious mental illness in jails and state prisons. This is 10 times more than the approximately 35,000 individuals with serious mental illness remaining in state hospitals” (Torrey et al). The criminal justice system needs to be exposed in its treatment of people with mental illnesses. It is a system that was made to protect innocent people, not harm them. By criminalizing mental illness, the American criminal justice system perpetuates a stigma of violence about mental disorders, resulting in more harm than help.

Looking into the history of the criminalization of mental illness can help us understand what is wrong in terms of treatment. In the past, people who were deemed mentally ill were forcefully removed from society and put in jails because of the decrease of mental hospitals. In their article “The Criminalization of Mental Illness,” Hiday and Wales discuss the origins of the criminalization of mental illness and how it has resurfaced today. Most of the arrests for a person with a mental illness are on nuisance charges. The charges are designed to remove mentally ill people from society without any desire to rehabilitate them. However, I suggest that instead of being arrested, the person should receive treatment. Putting them in jail does not rehabilitate them, rather it will most likely worsen their condition.“Providing medication, therapy, and social services without much more significant interventions is unlikely to change their offending patterns, making these persons poor candidates for diversion” (Hiday and Wales 92). These forensic mental health programs are not conducive to rehabilitation. Fellow inmates and guards often ridicule the patients and cause a decline in their mental health. The criminal justice system believes it is helping people with a mental illness by arresting them, but it is actually causing them harm.

The existing stigma of mental illness is that people who live with a mental disorder are violent; this stigma can cause people who are mentally ill to be discriminated against or avoid treatment to not be stigmatized. The different stigma that surrounds mental illness is a product of the community and fixing it requires addressing where the community is as a whole. By pointing out the several harmful effects of public discrimination and the root of the problem, we can see how to hopefully erase the stigma of mental illness. In his article, “What Is The Stigma of Mental Illness?” Patrick Corrigan addresses the stigma associated with mental illness: “Hence, people need to recognize the historical role of institutionalization to systemically justify mental illness stereotypes… Justifications for mental illness may come from the obvious institutions that suggest people with mental illness need to be controlled, e.g., state hospitals and prisons” (Corrigan 62). Corrigan argues that mental illness is a group that generates stigmatizing reactions. The reactions are that people with a mental illness are unpredictable and dangerous. The effects of stereotypes are discrimination, which leads the group that is being stigmatized against without a job, living space, or a chance for an intimate relationship.

A consequence of the violent stereotype associated with mental illness is that people who need help might be afraid to seek it. In her article “Why So Many People Feel Like Their Mental Illness Isn’t Real” for Vice Magazine, Maria Yagoda explores why people choose not to seek treatment. “According to the National Institute of Mental Health, as of 2015 about 18 percent of Americans suffer from some form of mental illness, but few seek treatment” (Yagoda). The people that do not seek treatment mostly do so out of the fear of public humiliation and institutionalization. “Clare Shepherd, a 29-year-old with bipolar II disorder with mixed episodes and rapid cycling, spent her early 20s without a diagnosis, not even seeking treatment, because of a traumatizing high school experience: When she opened up about how she was really feeling, she was committed to a mental institution” (Yagoda). When the two major options that they know of could be improper institutionalization or ostracization by their community, they may choose to just suffer internally. This makes it twice as worse for people who come from cultures that see mental illness as a weakness. No one should be reluctant to try and improve their lives because of society’s reaction. Yet, people are.

So, what can we do to stop this growing trend of mental harm? I propose that we educate society on mental health. That may seem broad, but it can be achieved. First, we should abolish incarceration as a solution to mental illness. This can be done by creating a national law to enforce that the criminal justice system educates itself on mental health. Teaching police, lawyers, and the public about the outcome of the criminalization of mental illness helps them to understand the significant role they play in someone else’s story. Then, we must establish community-based programs to take the place of correctional facilities for the mentally ill. The community-based programs will give them the support that is necessary for their rehabilitation. These suggestions merely touch the surface of what needs to be done. The most important aspect is that everyone champions the cause. Every day the statistic grows. Every day someone else is being harmed by the failures of the criminal justice system. We all have a choice to fix this. And the time is now.

Works Cited:

Torrey et al. The treatment of persons with mental illness in prisons and jails: A state

survey. Arlington, VA, Treatment Advocacy Center, April 8, 2014.

Hiday, Aldige Virginia and Wales, W. Heathcote. “The Criminalization of Mental

Illness.” Applied Research and Evaluation in Community Mental Health Services:

An Update of Key Research Domains, McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2011, pp.

80–93.

Corrigan, Patrick W.“WHAT IS THE STIGMA OF MENTAL ILLNESS?” The Stigma

Effect: Unintended Consequences of Mental Health Campaigns, Columbia

University Press, 2018, pp. 41–85.

Yagoda, Maria. “Why So Many People Feel Like Their Mental Illness Isn’t Real.” Vice, 5

June 2017,

www.vice.com/en_us/article/j5x878/why-why-so-many-people-feel-like-their-me

ntal-illness-isnt-real.