Chapter 8 investigates the relationship between mental disorders and crime. Mental disorders are viewed differently for the purposes of purposes of law enforcement and jurisprudence than they are understood in the course of general diagnosis and treatment. Mental retardation is now more commonly referred to as mental development disorder and can interfere with an individual’s ability to prepare a defense and stand trial. In clinical practice mental illness, more commonly referred to as mental disorder is evaluated on the degree the problem interferes with an individual’s capability to cope with everyday life. In the Criminal Law Forum, mental disorders affect the individual’s ability to judge right from wrong at the time of the crime. They also affect a person’s ability to subsequently stand trial and present a defense with or without an attorney. .
The ability to stand trial hinges upon a whether a person charged with a crime is so psychologically and/or intellectually impaired that they would be present only in body and not in mind during the trial and sentencing. This includes mental and developmental disorders, and refers to preparation for trial, and post judgment issues such as sentencing. An individual can become impaired at any point during this process, and may be judged capable of proceeding with an attorney but not capable of representing himself or herself without the benefit of counsel.
This chapter also looked at how the law views a person’s ability to judge right from wrong at the time of the crime and how those standards developed from the original M’Naghten Rule in 1843 to the present day. . Among the other legal issues raised are those of treatment, prosecution and subsequent release of mentally impaired individuals. Within the information presented, there was also substantive matter on the various disorders, their diagnosis criteria and treatment options. This chapter helped me clear up some of the misconceptions I had regarding the difference between clinical and criminal psychiatric diagnosis and treatment.
Bartol, C. R., & Bartol, A. M. (2011). Crime and Mental Disorders. In Criminal Behavior: A Psychological Approach (9th ed.) (pp. 208 - 245). Upper Saddle River, NJ, USA: Person Education/Prentice Hall.
