“1. Persistent mental disorder or derangement. No longer used

2. Law. Unsoundness of mind sufficient in the judgment of a civil court

to render a person unfit to maintain a contractual or other legal relationship or to warrant commitment to a mental health facility.” (Webster 1996)

The McNaughton Rule which is used in approximately half of the states to define insanity is as follows:

1. The defendant was suffering from ‘a defect of reason, from a disease of the mind.’

2. As a result, the defendant did not ‘know’ the ‘nature and quality of the act he was doing.’

The Durham Test simply states that the accused is not ciriminally responsible if his/her actions were produces by a mental disease or defect. Problems then arose when psychiatrists began using any familiar label as a ‘mental disease or defect’ and becoming too lenient. This standard is only used in New Hampshire.

The bottom line is that the programs must build new system linkages, view the detainees as citizens, and hold the community responsible for the services needed by the detainees. Another strategy is America’s Law Enforcement and Mental Health Act which was introduced in July. It seeks to help local communities to establish mental health courts in order to direct nonviolent mentally ill offenders out of jail and into long term treatment. Mental health courts are effective at reducing the recidivism of seriously mentally ill offenders because they use the power of the criminal justice court to ensure that the defendants receive long term mental health treatment. Misdemeanor defendants who are determined to be seriously mentally ill are offered treatment in lieu of jail. The Mental Health Early Intervention, Treatment, and Prevention Act of 2000 was introduced to help fulfill the unkept promise of the Community Mental Health Act of 1963 by providing grants to communities fo!

Not only does the problem begin and end with the facilities overabundance of mentall ill. Many mentally ill become worse when in prison. A common disorder to develop in prison is depression, a byproduct of institutionalization. In the context of a total institution, inmates are systematically broken down and manipulated by the staff. Their lives are completely supervised, homogenized, and organized. In the process, inmates tend to learn behaviors counter productive to their survival in the outside world. Some of these behaviors may include, “aggressiveness and intimidation of others or, conversely, extreme passivity, manipulative behavior and reluctance to discuss problems with authority figures. These behaviors create barriers to engagement in mental health services and treatment.” (Egger 2000)

3. Integration of services was encouraged through the efforts of a liaison person, or “boundary spanner,’ between the corrections, mental health, and substance abuse systems.

Some topics in this essay:
Durham Test, Research Bureau, Health Act, Jail Diversion, CAI R-CRAS, Daycare Center, Jay Ziskin, Criminal Justice, County Jail, McNaughton Rule, mentally ill, mental health, criminal justice, justice system, criminal justice system, mental health services, health services, mentally ill offenders, mental illness, ill offenders, law enforcement, mental hospitals, mental health courts, health courts, community-based mental health,