Discussion 3: Mental Health and the Law (the Insanity Defense) – In-Depth Discussion 3 Group 7
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Dear all,
It’s our last discussion time. Many of you have produced high-quality discussion posts in the past two discussion assignments and I am very happy for you!
This time, I am pushing you a bit further to think about how our current understanding of mental disorders may complicate the practice of law.
For one thing, the DSM provides criteria for diagnosing mental disorders, but whether a particular individual’s behaviors meet those criteria is often a judgment call. We are also limited in our ability to generalize from the research literature to individual cases. And a DSM-5 diagnosis of a mental disorder does not ensure that an individual will be treated in a particular way by the law. Further, the laws concerning people with mental health problems vary from region to region and have changed dramatically over the past 50 years.
Thus, the fuzziness in our diagnostic systems combined with the fuzziness in laws and their application to people with mental health problems means that a great deal of subjective judgment is involved in mental health law.
Take a look at Chapter 16 and do some thinking about the case of Michael Bottoms who had schizophrenia and set his house on fire where his family slept behind locked doors, the case of John Hinckley who successfully used the insanity defense after shooting President Ronald Reagan and the president’s press secretary, Jim Braddy, the case of Dan White who killed San Francisco supervisor and gay rights activist Harvey Milk and mayor George Moscone, and the case of Andrea Yates who drowned her own five children and who had suffered from several diagnoses, principally post-partum depression, etc.
What are your instinctual reactions about how those people should have been treated by the law? What are your educated comments on those cases regarding law enforcement procedures and decisions? Does the society have a right to impose treatment on an individual who doesn’t want it? Under what conditions should people be absolved of responsibility for behaviors that harm others? Should the diagnosis of a psychological disorder entitle a person to special services and protection against discrimination?
In this discussion assignment, please apply your understanding of mental disorders to the law enforcement field. Specifically, reflect about the insanity defense.
Demonstrate your understanding of insanity defense. What is insanity defense? What are the values and problems of insanity defense? What are the insanity defense rules? How does the insanity defense rules apply to a case of your interest? This case can come from the textbook or other sources with citation and references. This case should be the case you use for the rest of your discussion.
Case debriefing. Read the case description in the textbook and/or Do additional research about the case via internet, in the library or other places to present the case in terms of the basic facts (e.g., what happened and when and where?), the diagnosis of the main character, the judicial process and verdict.
your instinctual reactions to the case (e.g., your reaction to the fact itself based on your personal moral standards, your reaction to respond to the case if you were the judge, etc.)
Your educated critiques and reflections on the case regarding law enforcement procedures. Here are some questions for you to develop your educated reflection but you are not limited to these questions. For example, does the society have a right to impose treatment on an individual who doesn’t want it? Under what conditions should people be absolved of responsibility for behaviors that harm others? What are your critiques about Guilty But Mentally Ill (GBMI)? Should the diagnosis of a psychological disorder entitle a person to special services and protection against discrimination?
Your comments on the differences between the perspective of the law and that of the mental health profession and your proposal for a more integrated and complex view of mental disorders by the legal system.
You need to post your original post first before you see other people’s posts. You need to have at least one original post and one response post to complete this assignment.
See Discussion 3 Grading Rubric Download Discussion 3 Grading Rubricfor grading criteria. You may also click the three dot on the top of the assignment and click “show rubric” for grading rubric details.
After completing this assignment, you will gain proficiency in illustrating and reflecting about the the congruence and incongruence between the mental health profession and the legal system with an educated view toward potential approaches for resolution of the incongruence.
