The Complex Relationship Between Mental Illness and Crime

This essay delves into the complex relationship between mental illness, crime, and incarceration. It examines the public perception of a link between mental disorders and violent behavior, acknowledging the role of substance abuse, environmental factors, and genetic predispositions. The paper analyzes research findings, including studies on the criminalization of mentally ill persons, the effectiveness of incarceration, and the constitutional guarantees for mental health care within the justice system. The essay concludes that while there is an association between mental illness and crime, the direct link is not as strong as commonly perceived, and that incarceration may not be the most effective or humane approach to dealing with mentally ill offenders. The paper emphasizes the importance of alternative approaches like mental health treatment, and the need for a more comprehensive understanding of the factors contributing to both mental illness and criminal behavior.

Running head: CRIME AND MENTAL ILLNESS 1
Mental Illness, Crimes and Incarceration
Author Name(s)
Institutional Affiliation(s)
Author Note

mental illness and crimes 2
Abstract
Topics about mental illnesses and acts of violence have been around for years. In almost all
countries, people with mental disorders are perceived to become violent at one point of their
illnesses. Despite this perception being almost the same everywhere, there is always a difference
when handling patients with mental disorders. As cultures vary from one country to another, so
does how these different societies handle persons with mental illnesses. For instance, in some
countries, people with mental illnesses are largely kept by their families in confinement. In other
countries like the United States, for example, people with mental illnesses who become violent
are likely to be medicated or hospitalized. Where both methods prove to be futile, the patient
would be put to jail. This paper aims to look at the association between mental illness and crime.
It will further analyze whether prison is the most appropriate place to deal with people with
mental illness.
Keywords: Mental Disorders, Crime, Incarceration

mental illness and crimes 3
Mental Illness, Crimes and Incarceration
Mental illness is viewed as one of the contributors to violent crime, and some people
have even developed stereotypic believes that mentally disabled persons are often violent
criminals. The perception does not only stop at the public, but it even extends to law enforcement
where people found with mental illnesses are put in jail as a way of crime prevention. This paper
aims to bring an understanding of the relationship between mental illness and crimes. The paper
will extend further to analyze the whether putting mentally ill persons to jail is the appropriate
solution.
Mental illness and Crime
The work of (Varshney, Mahapatra, Krishnan, Gupta, & Deb, 2016) states that there is a
public perception that violence and mental illness remain inseparably intertwined. More recently,
the authors in (Seeman, Tang, Brown, & Ing, 2016) undertook a world survey to analyze the
stigma that is directed to persons with mental illness stigma. The study showed that about 7 to
8% of the respondents in developed countries believed that mentally ill persons are more violent.
In developing countries, about 15 to 16 % of respondents also believed that mentally ill persons
are more violent. Further, the perception is augmented by when they depict mentally ill persons
as the ones involved in violent crimes such as mass shooting, suicide, and homicide (Lay & Lay,
2015).
Much research has been done to examine the link between mental health and violence.
There are some that show a close relationship association between psychiatric disorders in and
violence and those that have found no association. However, for those that have found an
association, none of them has found a link between violence and the actual state of being
mentally ill. For instance, studies that found an association between mental disorders and crime

mental illness and crimes 4
found that crime was contributed by substance abuse (Elbogen & Johnson, 2009; (Coker, Smith,
Westphal, Zonana, & McKee, 2014; Flynn, Abel, While, Mehta, & Shaw, 2011; Rodway et al.,
2014). Others have shown that biological factors are a contributor to crime even in people who
have no mental problems (Manchia & Fanos, 2017; Cadoret, Leve, & Devor, 1997). In
(Sariaslan, Larsson, & Fazel, 2016), it was found that a combination of genetic aggression,
environmental factors, and a psychiatric disorder creates a high risk of violence. There are also
studies that have shown that mentally ill persons become violent due to frustration,
stigmatization, and aggression from medical officers, family members or other persons
(Webermann & Brand, 2017).
On analysis, there may be an association between mental illness and crime. However,
none of the studies has been able to show a direct connection between violence or crime with the
actual state of being mentally ill. Most of the studies attribute the acts of violence to biological
factors, medication, aggression, stigmatization, environment, or substance abuse.
Incarceration of Mentally Ill Persons
The are no clear reasons why criminal justice should be involved in mental recovery
more than mental hospitals. The common hypothesis that is mostly used to explain the arrest and
jail of mentally ill persons is that their cause of arrest is not merely due to the criminal act that
they did, but their state of mental health (Jillian Peterson, Jennifer L. Skeem, Eliza Hart, Sarah
Vidal, & Felicia Keith, 2010). This hypothesis is also called the “criminalization” of mentally ill
persons (Jillian Peterson et al., 2010). Another hypothesis looks at the factors that lead to
criminal behaviors among both the general population and mentally ill persons and then
concludes that mentally ill persons are at a higher chance of susceptibility to those factors than
the rest of the population (Skeem, Manchak, & Peterson, 2011).

mental illness and crimes 5
Whatever hypothesis that is given for jailing mentally ill persons, most studies find the
action disproportionate. For example, series paper in (Wildeman & Wang, 2017) described
incarceration as a contributor for health inequalities. Looking at the Amercian justice system,
there is a constitutional guarantee that mentally ill persons should be provided with basic mental
health assessment and treatment among others. However, the study of (Sarteschi, 2013) found
that most of their constitutional guarantees are not adequately fulfilled. Additionally, the study of
(Prins, 2014) revealed that mentally ill persons stay longer in prisons than other offenders.
Besides, this study also revealed that their incarcerations are costlier, perhaps because they do
not get access to adequate treatment. In a similar analysis, (Jacques Baillargeon, Ingrid A.
Binswanger, Joseph V. Penn, Brie A. Williams, & Owen J. Murray, 2009) found that inmates
who had serious psychiatric disorders such as bipolar disorders, depressive disorders,
schizophrenia, and nonschizophrenic psychotic disorders were at an increased risk of numerous
incarcerations. In overall, all these studies confirm that mental health hospitals are better at
taking care of mentally ill persons as opposed to the criminal justice systems.
Conclusion
This paper aimed to discuss the perception that mental disorders are closely connected
with the crime. The paper has looked at some of the literature done in this area and found that
even though there is a close relation, the relation is not direct as the same factors that contribute
to crime in non-mentally ill persons are the same to mental patients. Another issue that this paper
sought to cover was an analysis of the issue of jailing mentally ill offenders. This paper found
that incarceration does not serve as the best option as it instead harms the patients.

mental illness and crimes 6
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