Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-fscjk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T05:48:16.422Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A brief history of the criminalization of mental illness

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 March 2020

Joel A. Dvoskin Open the ORCID record for Joel A. Dvoskin [Opens in a new window] ,
James L. Knoll IV  and
Mollie Silva
Joel A. Dvoskin*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Arizona College of Medicine, Tucson, Arizona, USA
James L. Knoll IV
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, New York, USA Central New York Psychiatric Center, Marcy, New York, USA
Mollie Silva
Affiliation:
Tucson, Arizona, USA
*
*Author for correspondence: Joel A. Dvoskin, PhD, ABPP. (Email: [email protected])
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article traces the history of the way in which mental disorders were viewed and treated, from before the birth of Christ to the present day. Special attention is paid to the process of deinstitutionalization in the United States and the failure to create an adequately robust community mental health system to care for the people who, in a previous era, might have experienced lifelong hospitalization. As a result, far too many people with serious mental illnesses are living in jails and prisons that are ill-suited and unprepared to meet their needs.

Keywords

criminalizationhistorydeinstitutionalizationjailsprisonscriminal justice.
Type
Review
Information
CNS Spectrums , Volume 25 , Issue 5 , October 2020 , pp. 638 - 650
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press.

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References:

Høyersten, JG. Possessed! Some historical, psychiatric and current moments of demonic possession. Tidsskr Nor Laegeforen. 1996;116(30):3602–3606. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9019873.Google Scholar
Kramer, H, Sprenger, J. The Malleus Maleficarum. Summers, M, trans-ed. New York: Dover Publications; 1971.Google Scholar
Teague, S, Robinson, P. The history of unreason. In: Martin, JM, ed. Mental Health Policy, Practice, and Service Accessibility in Contemporary Society Advances in Human Services and Public Health. Hershey, PA: IGI Global; 2019:1–19.Google Scholar
Billig, M, Condor, S, Edwards, D, Gane, M, Meddleton, D, Radley, A. Ideological Dilemmas: A Social Psychology of Everyday Thinking. London, England: Sage; 1988.Google Scholar
Appelbaum, PS. "Law & psychiatry: one madman keeping loaded guns": misconceptions of mental illness and their legal consequences. Psychiatr Serv. 2004;55(10):1105–1106.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Knoll, J. The recurrence of an illusion: the concept of “evil” in forensic psychiatry. J Am Acad Psychiatry Law. 2008;36(1):105–116.Google Scholar
Chiu, SN. Historical, religious, and medical perspectives of possession phenomenon. Hong Kong J Psychiatry. 2000;10(1):14.Google Scholar
D’Antonio, P. History of psychiatric hospitals. Nursing, History, and Health Care • Penn Nursing. https://www.nursing.upenn.edu/nhhc/nurses-institutions-caring/history-of-psychiatric-hospitals/. Accessed September 12, 2019.Google Scholar
Luchins, AS. The rise and decline of the American asylum movement in the 19th century. J Psychol. 1988;122(5):471–486.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kiesler, CA, Sibulkin, AE. Mental Hospitalization: Myths and Facts about a National Crisis. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications; 1987.Google Scholar
Diseases of the mind: highlights of american psychiatry through 1900—early psychiatric hospitals and asylums. U.S. National Library of Medicine. https://www.nlm.nih.gov/hmd/diseases/early.html. Published January 18, 2017. Accessed September 13, 2019.Google Scholar
Grobb, GN. Mental Institutions in America: Social Policy to 1875. Abingdon, UK: Routledge; 2017.Google Scholar
Confronting California’s continuing prison crisis: the prevalence and severity of mental illness among California prisoners on the rise. Stanford Justice Advocacy Project. 2017. https://law.stanford.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Stanford-Report-FINAL.pdf. accessed September 13, 2019.Google Scholar
Bronson, J, Berzofsky, M. Indicators of mental health problems reported by prisoners and jail inmates, 2011–12. 2017. https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/imhprpji1112.pdf. accessed September 13, 2019.Google Scholar
Stefan, S. The protection racket: rape trauma syndrome, psychiatric labeling, and law. Northwestern Law Rev. 1994;88:4.Google Scholar
Ladd-Taylor, M. “Ravished by Some Moron”: the eugenic origins of the Minnesota Psychopathic Personality Act of 1939. J Policy History. 2019;31(2):192–216.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goode, D. A History and Sociology of the Willowbrook State School. Washington, DC: American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities; 2013.Google Scholar
Birnbaum, M. The right to treatment. Am Bar Assoc. 1960;46(5):499–505. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25721181.Google Scholar
Right to treatment: Wyatt v. Stickney—case summary. Mental Illness Policy Org. https://mentalillnesspolicy.org/legal/wyatt-stickney-right-treatment.html. Published January 23, 2019. accessed September 13, 2019.Google Scholar
Birnbaum, R. Remembering the “right to treatment”. Am J Psychiatry. 2010;169(4):358–359.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Szasz, TS. The myth of mental illness. Am Psychol. 1960;15(2):113–118.Google Scholar
Goffman, E. Asylums: Essays on the Social Situation of Mental Patients and Other Inmates. New York: Doubleday Anchor; 1961.Google Scholar
Civil Rights Act of 1964. U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. https://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/history/50th/thelaw/civil_rights_act.cfm. Accessed September 13, 2019.Google Scholar
Bloom, JD, Britton, J, Berry, W. The Oregon Court of Appeals and the State Civil Commitment Statute. J Am Acad Psychiatry Law. 2017;45(1):52.Google ScholarPubMed
Goldman, HH, Adams, NH, Taube, CA. Deinstitutionalization: the data demythologized. Psychiatr Serv. 1983;34(2):129–134.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schmidt v. Lessard, 414 U.S. 473. 1973.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Developments in the law: civil commitment of the mentally ill. Harvard Law Rev. 1974;87(6):1190–1406.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wyatt v. Stickney 325 F. Supp. 781(M.D.Ala.1971), 334 F. Supp. 1341 (M.D. Ala 1971), 344 F. Supp. 373 (M.D. Ala. 1972), sub nom Wyatt v. Aderholt, 503 F. 2d 1305 (5th Cir. 1974).Google Scholar
Right to treatment: Wyatt v. Stickney—case summary. Mental Illness Policy Org. https://mentalillnesspolicy.org/legal/wyatt-stickney-right-treatment.html. Published January 23, 2019.accessed September 13, 2019.Google Scholar
Perez, A, Leifman, S, Estrada, A. Reversing the criminalization of mental illness. Crim Delinq. 2003;49(1):62–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldman, HH, Adams, NH, Taube, CA. Deinstitutionalization: the data demythologized. Psychiatr Serv. 1983;34(2):129–134.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Teich, J. Better data for better mental health services. Issues Sci Technol. 2016;32(2):61–67. https://issues.org/better-data-for-better-mental-health-services/.Google Scholar
Mundt, AP, Konrad, N. Institutionalization, deinstitutionalization, and the Penrose hypothesis. Adv Psychiatry. 2018;187–196.Google Scholar
Teplin, LA. Criminalizing mental disorder: the comparative arrest rate of the mentally ill. Am Psychol. 1984;39(7):794–803.Google ScholarPubMed
Prins, SJ. Does transinstitutionalization explain the overrepresentation of people with serious mental illnesses in the criminal justice system? Community Ment Health J. 2011;47(6):716–722.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lamb, HR. Does deinstitutionalization cause criminalization? JAMA Psychiatry. 2015;72(2):105.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kalapos, MP. Penroses law: methodological challenges and call for data. Int J Law Psychiatry. 2016;49:1–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schildbach, S, Schildbach, C. Criminalization through transinstitutionalization: a critical review of the penrose hypothesis in the context of compensation imprisonment. Front Psychiatry. 2018;9: 534.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
O’Neill, CJ, Kelly, BD, Kennedy, HG. A 25-year dynamic ecological analysis of psychiatric hospital admissions and prison committals: Penrose’s hypothesis updated. Irish J Psychol Med. 2018;1–4.Google ScholarPubMed
Robuy, B, Kopf, D. Detaining the poor: how money bail perpetuates an endless cycle of poverty and jail time. https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/incomejails.html. accessed September 13, 2019.Google Scholar
Drake, RE, Latimer, E. Lessons learned in developing community mental health care in North America. World Psychiatry. 2012;11(1):47–51. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3266763/.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Feldman, S. Community mental health centers: a decade later. Int J Ment Health. 1974;3(2–3):19–34.Google Scholar
Fisher, WH, Roy-Bujnowski, KM, Grudzinskas, AJ, Clayfield, JC, Banks, SM, Wolff, N. Patterns and prevalence of arrest in a statewide cohort of mental health care consumers. Psychiatr Serv. 2006;57(11):1623–1628.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, KB. The politics of punishment: evaluating political explanations of incarceration rates. J Politics. 2004;66(3):925–938.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anderson, DC, Enberg, C. Crime and the politics of hysteria: how the Willie Horton story changed American justice. J Contemp Crim Just. 1995;11(4):298–300.Google Scholar
National Research Council. The Growth of Incarceration in the United States: Exploring Causes and Consequences. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press; 2014.Google Scholar
Cullen, J. The History of Mass Incarceration. Washington, DC; New York: Brennan Center for Justice; 2018.Google Scholar
Silver, E, Mulvey, EP, Swanson, JW. Neighborhood structural characteristics and mental disorder: Faris and Dunham revisited. Social Sci Med. 2002;55(8):1457–1470.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Silver, E. Extending social disorganization theory: a multilevel approach to the study of violence among persons with mental illnesses. Criminology. 2000;38(4):1043–1074.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Silver, E. Race, neighborhood disadvantage, and violence among persons with mental disorders: the importance of contextual measurement. Law Human Behav. 2000;24(4):449–456.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Silver, E, Piquero, AR, Jennings, WG, Piquero, NL, Leiber, M. Assessing the violent offending and violent victimization overlap among discharged psychiatric patients. Law Human Behav. 2011;35(1):49–59.Google ScholarPubMed
Harvard Health Publishing. Mental illness and violence. Harvard Health. https://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletter_article/mental-illness-and-violence. Published 2011. Accessed August 19, 2019.Google Scholar
Monahan, J, Steadman, HJ. Violence and Mental Disorder: Developments in Risk Assesment. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press; 1994.Google Scholar
Steadman, HJ, Mulvey, EP, Monahan, J, et al. Violence by people discharged from acute psychiatric inpatient facilities and by others in the same neighborhoods. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1998;55(5):393–401.Google ScholarPubMed
Steadman, HJ, Mulvey, EP, Monahan, J, et al. Violence by people discharged from acute psychiatric inpatient facilities and by others in the same neighborhoods. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1998;55(5):395 and tables 3 and 6.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Draine, J. Where is the ‘illness’ in the criminalization of mental illness? Res Community Ment Health. 2002;12:9–21.Google Scholar
Teplin, LA. Criminalizing mental disorder: the comparative arrest rate of the mentally ill. Am Psychol. 1984;39(7):794–803.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Silver, E. Race, neighborhood disadvantage, and violence among persons with mental disorders: the importance of contextual measurement. Law Human Behav. 2000;24(4):449–456.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Andrews, DA. The risk-need-responsivity (RNR) model of correctional assessment and treatment. In: Dvoskin, JA, Skeem, JL, Novaco, RW, Douglas, K, eds. Using Social Science to Reduce Violent Offending. New York: Oxford University Press; 2011:127–156.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Appelbaum, PS. Public safety, mental disorders, and guns. JAMA Psychiatry. 2013;70(6):565.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Matthias, AC. Schizophrenia and violence. Acta Psychiatr Scand. 2000;102(s407):63–67.Google Scholar
Fazel, S, Gulati, G, Linsell, L, Geddes, JR, Grann, M. Schizophrenia and violence: systematic review and meta-analysis. PLoS Med. 2009;6(8). Epub 2009 Aug 11CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Forensic assertive community treatment (FACT): A service delivery model for individuals with serious mental illness involved with the criminal justice system. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. https://store.samhsa.gov/system/files/508_compliant_factactionbrief_0.pdf. accessed September 13, 2019.Google Scholar
Empey, LT, Lipton, D, Martinson, R, Wilks, J. The effectiveness of correctional treatment: a survey of treatment evaluation studies. Contemp Sociol. 1976;5(5):582.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, JG. The debate on rehabilitating criminals: is it true that nothing works? Washington Post. March, 1989. https://www.prisonpolicy.org/scans/rehab.html. accessed September 13, 2019.Google Scholar
Macnamara, DE. The medical model in corrections requiescat in pace requiescat in pace. Criminology. 1977;14(4):439–448.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robins, LN, Regier, DA. Psychiatric disorders in america the epidemiologic catchment area study. Psychiatr Serv. 1991;43(3):289–289.Google Scholar
Kupers, TA. Prison Madness: The Mental Health Crisis behind Bars and What We Must Do about It. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass; 1999.Google Scholar
Metzner, J. Class action litigation in correctional psychiatry. J Am Acad Psychiatry Law. 2002;30:19–29.Google ScholarPubMed
American Psychiatric Association. Psychiatric Services in Jails and Prisons: A Task Force Report of the American Psychiatric Association. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association; 2000.Google Scholar
Stinchcomb, JB. Corrections: Past, Present, and Future. New York: Routledge; 2005.Google Scholar
Weedon, J. The role of jails is growing in the community. Corrections Today. April, 2003.Google Scholar
Roberts, JW. Reform and Retribution: An Illustrated History of American Prisons. Lanham, MD: American Correctional Association; 1997.Google Scholar
Stinchcomb, JB. Corrections: Past, Present, and Future. New York: Routledge; 2011.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goffman, E. Asylums: Essays on the Social Situation of Mental Patients and Other Inmates. London, England: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group; 2017.Google Scholar
Loewy, AH. Criminal Law in a Nutshell. 2nd ed. St. Paul, MN: West Publishing Co.; 1987.Google Scholar
Coleman v. Brown, 938 F. Supp.2d 955, 974, n.35 (E.D.Cal.). 2013.Google Scholar
Harrison, PM, Beck, AJ. Prisoners in 2005. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice; 2006. https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/p05.pdf.Google Scholar
Beck, A. Testimony on Prison Demographics. Commission on Safety and Abuse in America’s Prisons, Newark, NJ; July 19, 2005.Google Scholar
Stinchcomb, JB. Corrections: Past, Present, and Future. New York: Routledge; 2005.Google Scholar
Huey, MP, Mcnulty, TL. Institutional conditions and prison suicide: conditional effects of deprivation and overcrowding. Prison J. 2005;85(4):490–514.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown v. Plata 131 S. Ct. 1910 (2011).Google Scholar
Farmer v. Brennan (92-7247), 511 US 825 (1994) https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/92-7247.ZS.html.Google Scholar
Petersilia, J, Cullen, FT. Liberal but not stupid: meeting the promise of downsizing prisons. SSRN Electron J. 2014. Volume 2, Epub no page rangeGoogle Scholar
Dvoskin, JA, Skeem, JL, Novaco, RW, Douglas, KS. What if psychology redesigned the criminal justice system? In: Dvoskin JA, Skeem JL, Novaco RW, Douglas KS. Using Social Science to Reduce Violent Offending; New York: Oxford University Press. 2011:291–302.Google Scholar
Slate, RN, Buffington-Vollum, JK, Johnson, WW. The Criminalization of Mental Illness Crisis and Opportunity for the Justice System. Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press; 2013.Google Scholar
Knoll, J. Individual psychotherapy in corrections. In: Trestman, RL, Appelbaum, KL, Metzner, JL, eds. Oxford Textbook of Correctional Psychiatry. New York: Oxford University Press; 2015.Google Scholar
Beckett, K. Seattle’s law enforcement assisted diversion program: lessons learned from the first two years. Ford Foundation. https://www.fordfoundation.org/media/2543/2014-lead-process-evaluation.pdf.Google Scholar
Varano, SP, Kelley, P, Makhlouta, N. The city of Brockton’s “champion plan”: the role of police departments in facilitating access to treatment. Int J Offender Ther Comp Criminol. 2019;63(15–16):2630–2653.Google ScholarPubMed
Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) programs. NAMI. https://www.nami.org/get-involved/law-enforcement-and-mental-health.accessed September 13, 2019.Google Scholar
Teller, JLS, Munetz, MR, Gil, KM, Ritter, C. Crisis intervention team training for police officers responding to mental disturbance calls. Psychiatr Serv. 2006;57(2):232–237.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lamb, HR, Weinberger, LE. Understanding and treating offenders with serious mental illness in public sector mental health. Behav Sci Law. 2017;35(4):303–318.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Baillargeon, J, Hoge, SK, Penn, JV. Addressing the challenge of community reentry among released inmates with serious mental illness. Am J Community Psychol. 2010;46(3–4):361–375.Google ScholarPubMed
Lurigio, AJ. Effective services for parolees with mental illnesses. Crime Delinq. 2001;47(3):446–461.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dlugacz, HA. Reentry Planning for Offenders with Mental Disorders: Policy and Practice. Kingston, CA: Civic Research Institute; 2015.Google Scholar
Perez, A, Leifman, S, Estrada, A. Reversing the criminalization of mental illness. Crime Delinq. 2003;49(1):62–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilson, AB, Farkas, K, Bonfine, N, Duda-Banwar, J. Interventions that target criminogenic needs for justice-involved persons with serious mental illnesses: a targeted service delivery approach. Int J Offender Ther Comp Criminol. 2017;62(7):1838–1853. This research describes the development of a targeted service delivery approach that tailors the delivery of interventions that target criminogenic needs to the specific learning and treatment needs of justice-involved people with serious mental illnesses (SMI).Google ScholarPubMed