Crime And Mental Illness

Often, people who commit violent crimes are suffering from one mental illness or another. It is typically one of the first things people think of. Do we really know what mental disorders they are though? Here's a list of mental disorders that are commonly catalysts behind violent crimes. The ones that are in bold are found more often.

• Anxiety disorders
• anxiety due to a general medical condition
• substance-induced anxiety
• generalized anxiety disorder
• panic disorder
• acute stress disorder
• post-traumatic stress disorder
• adjustment disorder
• obsessive-compulsive disorder
• social phobia
• Delirium
• Delusional disorder
• Dementia 
• Impulsive control disorders
• Intoxication or withdrawal from medications or drugs
• Mood disorders
• Major Depression
• Anxiety Disorder
• Bipolar Disorder 
• Personality Disorders
• Anti-social Personality disorder
• Autism
• Schizoaffective disorder
• Schizophrenia 
• Substance dependence and abuse
• Traumatic brain injury

Keep in mind though that people do not commit these crimes because they have the disorders. There is always more to it. The scary thing is that most of us could look at this list and pick out more than one disorder that we ourselves have. Just looking at this list, I myself have four of these disorders! 

info from emedicine.medscape.com

Juvenile Delinquency Pt. 2

Because juvenile court differs so much from a regular court system, the terms used differ as well. Here is a quick list so you know what you're talking about:

Juvenile Term                                        Adult Term

Adjucation                                             Conviction of guilty

Adjustment                                           Referring to plea bargaining

After-care                                             Parole

Commitment                                        Sentence to imprisonment

Delinquent act                                      Crime

Detention                                              Holding in jail

Dispositional hearing                           Sentencing hearing

Hearing                                                 Trial

Petition                                                 Accusation/Indictment

Residental Care Facility                     Halfway House

Shelter                                                  Jail

Take into custody                              Arrest

Contrary to what some may believe, juveniles have the right to counsel, the right to early written notification of the charge, the right to confront and cross-examine one's accuser, the right to remain silent, and protection from self-incrimination.

Keep in mind, I'm not telling anyone to go out and become a juvenile delinquent, nor am I making excuses for them. I am simply attempting to inform the public on the nature of how a juvenile's behavior becomes delinquent.

info from http://www.yale.edu/

Juvenile Delinquency Pt.1

How does juvenile behavior become delinquent? When? What happens as a result?

• Statistics show that broken homes, the order of birth, and family size are huge contributors to who may become a juvenile delinquent. In 1950, 40.5 million children were living in families with both a father and a mother while 4.1 million children were living within broken families. In 1970, there were about 7.6 million minors growing up with only one parent or with neither. In 1966, every three marriages ended in divorce and the number of children in broken homes significantly increased. Because of this, children are spending more time alone, thus leaving them with emotional voids that they try to fill by acting out.
• The result of this has increased the number of runaways, teenage suicides, teenage parenthood, etc.
• Most girls are arrested for running away, being involved in a gang, and/or sex offenses.
• Most boys are arrested for vandalism, theft, assault, rape, drugs, and some major offenses.

Discipline in the home relating to delinquent behavior:

• When family realtions are disturbed, it is more likely that children will become delinquents. There are three main contributing factors:
• careless or inadequate supervision by the mother;
• erratic or overly strict discipline;
• lack of cohesiveness of the family unit.
• Types of discipline:
• Sound - consistant and firm control but not strict enough to cause fear;
• Fair - control which is indefinate: sometimes strict, somtimes relaxed;
• Unsound - extremely relaxed OR extremely strict which either gives unrestrained acts of freedome or restricts to the point of rebellion.

info from http://www.yale.edu/

Tragedy Due To Bad Parenting

There's a four year-old child dead and his mother is wounded. Because of the investigation that is taking place, police believe that the boy's mother was sleeping and that the boy was standing beside her bed. Police do not think that this was the first time the boy had handled the gun because he'd been seen playing with it in the past.

Bad parenting or bad parenting? How do you let your children play with a gun? How do you let your gun unsecured? A four year-old doesn't have much knowledge of a gun, typically. Because of these careless actions, an innocent four year-old is dead. How tragic.

info from topix.com

Jail Them or Rehabilitate Them?

In Fort Worth, a 42 year-old man was acquitted. He was being tried for rape. Only three weeks later, he was in custody to be tried for the rape and murder of another woman. He was arrested by five officers who found the victim stashed in a closet in her apartment. Court records show that he was also to be in court for robbery and attempted aggravated assult on a 59 year-old homeless woman. Without droning on about all the gruesome details, I can tell you that this man commits one violent crime after another, it seems. Clearly, he needs help. However, should he be thrown in jail or should the time be taken to try and rehabilitate him?

This question is not being asked publically, it's just something I wonder about. I believe that if this man was going to be given the chance of parole eventually, he should be rehabilitated. Throwing him in jail is not going to fix anything. The arguement from the other side represents our money being put into this. I suppose it comes down to economics versus morals - unless money is your top priority. I believe he should be given the chance at rehabilitation. What do you think?

How Sick!?

As a recovering addict/alcoholic, drugs upset me. People think it's cool to use them. It's not. It's not cool when you land yourself in rehab. It's not cool when you have to sit through NA or AA meetings when you'd rather be out with your friends. It's not cool when you realize that you'll wake up every day and deal with this addiction - for the entirety of your life. Trust me, I've been there. The thing about most addicts and/or alcoholics is that they are addicts by choice. Not many people are forced into addiction. How lame is that though? How heartless do you have to be to purposefully addict someone else causing them to deal with this pain for the rest of their lives?

It just so happens that I am NOT an addict by choice. Someone close to me addicted me. By this, I do not mean they pressured me into taking a drink, shooting up my arm, or snorting. I mean they forced me. Anyone who cannot agree that this is pure evil must also be sick. Where am I going with this? A man was arrested at the Orlando International Airport for having heroin in lollipops. The officers ended up seizing 172 lollipops and 3.2 kilograms of heroin altogether.

info from cnn.com

I Was An Innocent Bystander..

Does being a bystander make you innocent? In my opinion, the phrase "innocent bystander" is an oxymoron. It's nearly impossible to have a bystander that is innocent. When you witness a crime, whether it's a stabbing, a burglary, or simple bullying, what would you do? Would you go for help? Would you get in the middle and attempt to stop it? Would you pretend you saw nothing and keep your head down? Though many of us would like to exclaim, "Oh, of course I'd help them," often times, that's not what would actually happen. We, as humans, don't know what to do. We'll take a look with the murder of Kitty Genovese..


Kitty Genovese was a young woman who was stabbed to death near her home in Brooklyn, New York. The public reaction was probably the most compelling aspect of this case - the most intriguing. However, because of the way the public reacted, the bystander effect was developed. Thirty-eight people watched and listened to her as her perpetrator knifed her to death though not one of them did anything about it. BUT WHY?? Following are the reasons why people do nothing when someone else is in need. (This is more likely to happen, interestingly enough, if there are more people around).

1. Because there are so many other people around, there is a diffusion of responsibility. Everyone believes that someone else will take care of the problem.
2. People need to behave in socially acceptable ways. When other people fail to react, they take that as a sign that they should also fail to react.

Don't be a bystander. They're not innocent. Be a hero. Beat the wretched bystander effect.