Matters Of The Mind: Mental Health And Crime

http://media.boston.cbslocal.com/CBSBOS_20150610060846487AA.mp4 BOSTON (CBS) – A lack of treatment options is leading to large numbers of people with mental illness being locked up, according to experts in both criminal justice and mental health. “There are so many people that are locked up right now because there’s not a good plan,” says WBZ-TV Security Analyst Ed Davis. Read: More Matters Of The Mind Research from the Centers on Sentencing and Corrections finds that despite a drop in violent crime by 49-percent between 1983 and 2013, the number of people in prison nearly doubled from 6 million to 11.7 million. They also say men and women in prison are at least 4-to-6 times as likely to be mentally ill as the general public. Criminal justice reform groups point to the war on drugs and the deinstitutionalization of mental health hospitals for the growing problem. “The absence of treatment in the community puts the court at the place of do nothing, because there’s very little treatment options, or put him in the county jail where I know he’ll be safe and the community will be safe,” John Larivee of Boston-based Community Resources for Justice. “But in terms of ending that behavior or treating that behavior, it just continues in prison or jail.” Services offered by CRJ include halfway houses that serve about 1,100 people released from prison in a year. Larivee says 40-percent of those residents come with a diagnosed mental illness, 20...
Source: WBZ-TV - Breaking News, Weather and Sports for Boston, Worcester and New Hampshire - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Health Local News Seen On WBZ-TV Syndicated Local Watch Listen Bree Sison Community Resources for Justice John Larivee Matters Of The Mind Mental Health PTSD Source Type: news