Mental Health Policy and Practice by Jon Glasby Jerry Tew

Author:Jon Glasby, Jerry Tew [Jon Glasby, Jerry Tew]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Medical, Psychiatry, General, Psychology, Reference, Political Science, Public Policy, Economic Policy, Applied Psychology, Mental Health
ISBN: 9781137119445
Google: DAIQCwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Macmillan International Higher Education
Published: 2015-04-23T02:38:02+00:00

When someone commits a crime that the public finds particularly hard to understand, an immediate response is often to question whether the person concerned is either ‘mad’ or ‘bad’: did they behave as they did because they are ‘evil’, or are they experiencing some form of mental health problem? Whereas many would see the need to punish the ‘bad’, they may often feel that someone with a mental health problem may not have been ‘in their right mind’ and hence not responsible for their action. As a result, such a person should receive treatment and care in the health service, rather than punishment in prison.

In practice, such distinctions are sometimes hard to make (especially where the crime is horrific and difficult to comprehend). Examples include infamous figures such as Ian Brady, Myra Hindley, Harold Shipman and Ian Huntley. While these are extreme cases, they nevertheless illustrate the complexities at stake, as someone with a mental health problem assessed as not responsible for their actions will ‘escape’ prison and be treated in a health rather than a penal setting. Of course, whether entering the mental health system in such circumstances is an ‘escape’ is a moot point. Arguably, the stigma of using forensic mental health services is so significant that some would consider it as bad as or worse than the stigma of having been in prison. However, the fact remains that the initial assessment is crucial to establish why someone acted as they did, whether or not they were responsible for their actions and what should happen to them next.

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