Literature Review2.1 Concept of criminal justice system
The criminal justice system is a chain of institutions and government agencies which aim to provide justice to those who are criminals and have committed a crime. The rule of law is maintained within the society through criminal justice system. According to Wexler (2018), justice is for all. Thus, the primary institutions of the criminal justice in the form of police, lawyers, courts and prosecution have been created.
However, it has been identified that the courts, which are the most important part of criminal justice system, are not up to the mark. Many times, criminals’ needs are not taken care of (Lowder, et. al., 2018). There are many problem-solving courts in judiciary which are created to address the problems of those who are criminals.
Mental health courts (MHCs) are a type of problem-solving courts. Such courts are diversion interventions which help in improving the mental health of the criminals. These courts are useful in providing helpful treatments to those criminals having mental illnesses (Castelano, 2017).
Having considered the significance of MHCs in the criminal justice, the paper discusses the topic of the reforms needed to make in the criminal justice system by instituting the use of MHCs to divert adult offenders having mental disorders from the jail system and also to provide treatment.
Lately, this topic has been in the limelight due to the increasing emphasis on providing justice to criminals. The main intent of this paper is to focus on the aspect of courts, i.e., mental health courts by discussing the reform needed in the criminal justice system. The report discusses the mental court programs and how are they effective in the criminal justice system. Following are the research aim and objectives, around which the entire discussion revolves-
Research Aim
- To employ mental health courts to provide treatment to criminals as a part of the criminal justice system
Research Objectives
- To explore the need of mental health courts (MHCs) in providing justice to criminals
- To explore the effectiveness of mental health courts in improving the criminal justice system
- To identify how mental health programs attempt to provide critical mental health services
Criminal justice system is the delivery of justice to those who have committed crimes in any area or field (Wexler, 2018). Elaborating the definition further, it is a series of government institutions which help in processing justice to those who are innocent. The main institutions of the criminal justice system are defense lawyers, prosecution, police and courts and the prisons.
From the definition studied it is seen that the criminal justice system consist of three main aspects which are as follows-
- Law enforcement agencies such as police
- Courts and defense lawyers
- Agencies for detaining and for the purpose of supervising offenders
Law enforcement
It is identified that police is considered to be the first person to whom the defendant can reach out first. It is the police who suspect the wrongdoing and arrest the person for the same. Police is empowered as law enforcements agencies for force or other techniques for maintaining social order (Lowder, et, al., 2017). It is also concerned with enforcing criminal law on the basis of specific jurisdiction.
Courts and defensive lawyers
Courts are the places where the disputes are settled in the eyes of law. A judge is appointed in the court that is considered to be knowledgeable regarding the different laws and is responsible for declaring the final decision to the dispose of a case (Lara Millan & Van Cleve, 2017).
Agencies for detaining and for supervising offenders
It consists of different agencies which help in the supervision of activities of the offenders. These agencies are in the form of prison cells, probation agencies and others where those who are convicted are given a chance to improve their behavior and attitude towards the society (Castellano, 2017).
In the United States there are different, there are a separate set of federal, state and military criminal justice systems for the different individuals. Thus a categorization of the system takes place which help in bringing a systematic process.
2.2 Critical need of change in judicial system
According to O’Sullivan, (2019), criminal justice system is not very efficiently planned and executed as stated by Benforado, (2015) in his book. The judicial processes are failing to sustain the values. He proposes a number of practical reforms which can help in achieving equality and true fairness.
The health and quality life of prisoners are deteriorated when the prisoners are going through mental illness. Also, such prisoners face a lot of stigma and discrimination. Moreover, prison employees have to face difficult situation in the prison environment as the prisoners having mental illnesses are difficult to tackle. This results into the decreased morale of the prison staff. In addition to this, the entire community is impacted by the mental ill-health of the prisoners. It is seen that the prison health is a part of the general population. The mental ill-health of the prisoners leads to more crime and a negative environment in the community (Wexler, 2018). It has become very important to address the mental health needs of the prisoners for the betterment of the prisoners, prison staff and the entire community.
The criminal justice system needs to be reformed as far as mental ill-health of the prisoners is considered. If the mental health needs of the prisoners are not promoted, the entire public health will suffer. Thus, there is a dire need to reform the criminal justice system in the wake of better mental health needs of the prisoners.
2.3 Use of mental health courts in criminal justice system
It has been seen that the criminal justice system mainly demands that criminals should be treated in the right manner and those who are wrongly prosecuted are given a chance to improve their life and well-being in an effective manner. However, due to continuous prosecution the criminals and those who are accused of some crime undergo a lot of mental stress which sometimes creates an imbalance in the mental health of the individuals (Kurlychek & Johnson, 2019). Elaborating it further, it is seen that the continuous questioning and ill treatment to the convicts and prisoners tend to disturb the mental well-being of them which in turn is believed to impact their attitude and behavior within the society.
It is for this reason it is believed that MHCs are required to be brought within the criminal justice system so that the justice is not biased or one sided. The justice needs to be given not only to the society but also to the criminals by the way of giving them chance to improve them (Wexler, 2018).
MHCs are responsible for connecting the defendants with the mental health problems by way of providing the necessary treatment along with the resources within the community and to keep them engaged in the whole process (Lowder, et. al., 2018). Adding it further, the mental health affects the criminal justice system by the way of making the defendant even more vulnerable to commit crimes and thus the justice cannot be attained.
Mental health courts are an effective intervention. They represent a flourishing partnership between the criminal justice systems and the mental health (Lowder, et. al., 2018). With the increasing mental health cases in prison, the concept of new form of specialty court which considers the mental health system was needed.
Mental health courts not only play an effective role in intervention but also in improving public health and safety. The quality of life of the criminals with mental illnesses increases which in turn, reduces criminal recidivism. Adding to this, it has been identified that the court and corrections related courts are also reduced by the help of mental health courts. Since the needs of offenders are targeted in mental health courts, it helps in improving the lives of offenders.
2.4 Theoretical underpinning of mental health courts
Mental health courts are theoretically alleged to consider two theoretical frameworks of criminal justice. One is restorative justice and the other one is therapeutic jurisprudence. Restorative justice is a related theory in criminal justice which is often used in mental health courts. The theory states that the crime is not just breaking law but also includes the harm caused to relationships, people and community. Harm is caused by crime and justice demand repair of that harm (Linhorst, et. al., 2020). This theory emphasizes on repairing the harm which is often caused by criminal behavior. This has the ability to cause major changes in the community and people. The theory of therapeutic jurisprudence is an interdisciplinary method which intends to reform the law for creating a positive impact on the mental well-being of the prisoners (Kaiser & Holtfreter, 2016). The aim of mental health courts is to make interactions with the judicial and legal authorities to promote mental health of criminals or prisoners.
- Research Methodology
3.1 Research philosophy
Positivism and interpretivism are the two types of research philosophies used. Out of the two philosophies, the latter one is more suitable for this research as with the help of it attaining in-depth information about the criminal justice system (Mohajan, 2018). Deeper insights are required to be obtained for impact of mental health courts on the judicial system designed dto provide justice to criminals which is obtained from the interpretivism research philosophy.
3.2 Research design and approach
After the selection of research philosophy, it is required to be aligned with an appropriate research design. Hence, exploratory research design is the most apt along with interpretivism research design because new facts and findings regarding the criminal court justice. Apart from that, deductive research approach is used with the help of which general information is derived from the use of existing theories (Zangirolami-Raimundo, et. al., 2018). The topic of the research is such that it requires more generalized form. Hence, exploratory research design along with deductive research approach is best suited for this.
3.3 Research method
The two research methods are the quantitative and qualitative research method. For this research study, qualitative research method is selected because the topic is somewhat related to social science which requires better observation.
3.4 Data collection method
Data can be either collected through primary method or through a secondary method (Zangirolami-Raimundo, et. al., 2018). For this research study, secondary data collection method is used. Hence, a variety of peer-reviewed sources on the subject of criminal justice system and mental health courts are considered. Brief literature review is carried out as a part of secondary research.
3.5 Data analysis
For analyzing the data, thematic analysis technique is used with the help of which different themes are formulated (Mohajan, 2018). Under this technique, the themes are formulated on the basis of the research objectives designed and then analysis is done by aligning the information accordingly.
- Results
This section provides the thematic analysis of the findings. Here are the following themes-
4.1 Need of mental health courts
The criminal justice system is not very efficient and effective. It does consist of many flaws and inefficiencies (Lara Millan & Van Cleve, 2017). These are in the form of clear definition of crime, military policing tactics, civil asset forfeiture, incarceration as well as no improvement in the lives of criminals (Wexler, 2018). Out of these laws, the major issue is the inhumane treatment and no improvement in the condition of mentally ill in the jail system.
Considering the fairness, it is seen that the mental health of the prisoners is not taken care of. The authorities pay no heed to the miserable conditions of the prisoners which are in turn, resulting into drug use, mental and psychiatric disorders (Castellano, 2017). Adding to this, the lives of criminals as well as the society as a whole is deteriorating.
Prison environment is not very good and supportive. Prisoners in jails are kept captive and the isolation, lack of social life and violence which influence their lives and mental condition. Moreover, tackling prisoners is not at all a cakewalk. Prison staff and authorities have to go through a lot in order to manage the prisoners, who at some point of time, become difficult to manage (Bonfine, et. al., 2016). This is indicative of the fact that criminal justice system is inefficient in providing justice either to criminals or the wider community including prison staff. There is a need of mental health courts which can offer treatment and the required help to prisoners and the community.
4.2 Effectiveness of mental health courts
There are a variety of mentally ill prisoners or convicts who are found to be committing crime because of their imbalance in mental health. It is unfair for the criminal justice system to simply keep them in prison for their crime. What is required here is the role played by the mental health courts to give them treatment for their mental health illness. The use and effectiveness of mental health courts can be further elucidated by the views of Benfoardo, (2015). His views regarding the criminal justice system are similar. He placed great emphasis on reforming the judicial processes. He proposes practical reforms in I law which prevent injustice. Considering the case of prisoners, it is seen that justice is not provided to those prisoners having mental disorders and illnesses. They are kept captive and are not provided with any treatment. Thus, mental health courts are very effective in assuring that mental care need of the prisoners is taken care of.
In spite of many benefits and importance of mental health courts, it is identified that such courts and the programs for such courts are not free from criticisms, glitches and challenges. The referral abilities of mental health courts are very limited due to long waiting list. The mental health issues are on the rise and thus, mental health courts lag behind availing such services. In order to divert mentally ill offenders, mental health courts need to make strong mental court programs which are able to create new referral sources.
Also, longer sentencing requirements challenge mental health courts. For instance, many mental courts program consider one year of mandated treatment to be three months in jail. The ineffectiveness of mental health courts is further stated by Snedker, et. al., (2017), emphasizing on the voluntary participation of offenders or prisoners. There is a high level of coercion to plead guilty. Forced medication is an important aspect of mental court programs.
It is believed that with the mental health courts being introduced in the criminal justice system, there might be reduced chances of moral culpability for the offense (Kurlchek & Johnson, 2019). This means that if the defendant is metal treated for his illness there are chances that he can become a responsible citizen in the future. In addition to this it can be anticipated that with the help of mental health courts the working of the criminal justice system can be further enhanced in the sense that the overall justice can be imparted to the society as well as to the convicts and prisoners (Lim & Day, 2016). Thus, the benefits of mental health courts outweigh the challenges and criticisms making it more effective.
Further, it is seen that what makes MHCs effective are mental health programs which when executed well can play a significant role in improving the mental health of adult offenders as well as in providing justice to them. First of all, selection process needs to be fair for admitting clients into mental health courts. Focus from criminal processing to mental treatment and therapeutic healing can be shifted by proper execution of mental health programs (Bonfine, et. al., 2016). The stakeholders should consider the problems faced by adult offenders before approaching mental health courts. It is very important to follow the guidelines of mental health court execution such as objectives, target population, terms of participation, the Court team, participant identification and many more. By going through these steps, mental health courts can help in proper treatment of mentally ill adult offenders.
- Conclusion
On the basis of the above discussion it is concluded that criminal justice system should be reformed. This can be done by using mental health courts in the system. In addition to this, it is further concluded that, all the aim and objectives which have been designed for this research are fulfilled. Considering the first research objective it is seen that MHCs are needed within the criminal justice system because without considering the mental well being of the convicts the criminal justice system cannot be justified. In addition to this, with the help of the mental health courts the convicts can be treated accordingly which can help in making them better citizens for the future. Hence, mental health is required to be given priority in all aspects. Considering this it is concluded that the first research objective is well achieved.
It is further concluded that the mental health courts are effective in improving the criminal justice system by the way of following systematic procedures in promoting and preserving the mental well being. However, looking at the other side, it is seen that at times there is forced participation of the volunteers which makes it a little ineffective. Hence, the second research objective is achieved in an effective manner.
Considering the third research objective it is seen that mental health care program can be promoted by the way of making strong referrals within the criminal justice system. Thus the third research objective is also archaized within this research.