Criminology

One of America’s largest problems today is the situation with the Mentally Ill and their effects on our Criminal Justice system. Ever since the deinstitutionalization of mental hospitals, our prisons have become a gathering pool for mentally ill as they are mis-diagnosed or perhaps not diagnosed at all. They become a burden not only on our prison system, but on the economy as well as they often return to the prisons and stay longer. …

…use in court (Nicholson, 1999). This questioning of the ability of psychologists testimony along with the difficulty in determining the mental health of defendants has always been part of the difficulty in absolving the problem of mentally ill. Perseverance of the psychologists, congressmen, and police officers to continue to provide quality services for the mentally ill rather than treat them as sub-citizens, will vastly help the American situation with mentally ill and the criminal justice system.