NCJ Number
84641
Journal
Australian Journal of Social Issues Volume: 16 Issue: 3 Dated: (1981)
Date Published
1981
Length
15 pages
Annotation
This paper examines data from Western Australian courts and prison and mental health systems to determine the nature and extent of mentally ill offenders and their disposition, highlighting fundamental problems in the system and possible alternatives.
Abstract
Administrative, legal, and human welfare problems beset the current system of dealing with the mentally ill. To reform the system, a policy of decentralization could be instituted with clear movement channels into or out of corrections, legal status being of primary importance. Those routed into the criminal justice system who are in need of psychiatric treatment and hospitalization could be treated by prison mental health professionals and, if necessary, temporarily hospitalized in prison infirmaries or temporarily transferred to mental health services, if appropriate prison treatment is not available. At present, such a system is hampered by legal/psychiatric confusion, the vague delineation of legal responsibilities of corrections and mental health services, and their inability to act in a coordinated enterprise. Study data and 29 reference notes are included.