Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Benefits Of Shifting From A Punitive Justice System To One That Is Mental Health Aware, Sarah Flatin

Honors College Theses

Since the 1950’s there has been an increasingly large population of individuals suffering from psychological disorders within the United States criminal justice system. Many psychiatrists and psychologists attribute this rising population to deinstitutionalization, a period in which psychiatric hospitals drastically reduced the number of patients they would serve. As a result, a larger amount of persons suffering from psychological disorders were released into society, where their symptoms are sometimes misinterpreted and criminalized, thus involving the criminal justice system. In response to this growing population the criminal justice system has begun to implement several methods for handling individuals suffering from psychological …