RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CRIME AND PEOPLE WITH MENTAL
HEALTH ILLNESS
INTRODUCTION
Mental illness and crime are linked in certain ways. On one hand, we have criminal offenders
with serious psychopathology; and on the other hand, we have psychiatric patients who may
commit criminal offences during the influence of a psychiatric disorder. The psychiatrist in
practice has to come in contact with the criminal justice system at some point of time in his
career. Forensic psychiatry under whose realm these issues reside is a branch yet underdeveloped
in India. Psychiatry and crime are at times intertwined. It has always been perceived that
criminal offenders are crazy and mentally ill while on the other hand there is another view that
psychiatric patients are dangerous and more likely to commit criminal offences a great number of
evidence suggest that mentally ill are more likely to be arrested convicted and sent to prison. The
mentally ill are often ‘referred’ to the criminal justice system due to poor or inappropriate
resources in the mental health sector to cater the needs and help the mentally ill. A basic
conception is set amongst the masses in which they tend to connect mental illness with crimes
and felony and individuals with
COMMON LINK BETWEEN MENTAL ILLNESS AND CRIME
The symptoms of specific mental illness may directly include crime or delinquency, for example
in conduct disorder or oppositional defiant disorder. An important diagnosis is ‘Antisocial
Personality Disorder’ (ASPD), which is the most common diagnosis in prisoners. ASPD is being
criticised, with there being controversy over whether it constitutes a mental illness, and many
suggest that it is no more than a moral judgement given a diagnostic label. Most reports and
reviews says that it is an incurable disorder as are most personality disorders, yet the diagnosis is
ever increasing with a need to label criminals as victims of psychiatric illness. The personality
disorder diagnosis must be used where the characteristics traits of a personality disorder make its
appearance in childhood with antecedents to the same being present and most characteristics
being noted by the age of 14–15 years. It is wrong to diagnose someone with crimes seen after
the age of 18 years as a case of personality disorder just to save him from the clutches of the law.
It is also paramount that legal systems realise that personality disorders cannot be equated with
major mental illnesses like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder which start and may be episodic
while personality disorders are a lifelong enduring pattern of traits and behaviour.
Crime and psychiatry are inter-related. There are criminals who have serious psychiatric illness
and psychiatric patients who tend to commit serious crimes. The factors leading to crime and
psychiatric disorders may be similar and at times intrinsically linked. It is very difficult to
pinpoint one factor in the causation of both as multiple factors at various levels and trajectories
play their part. The interdependence and intersection of crime and psychiatry need further
research and elucidation though it is a difficult area of enquiry.
CAUSES FOR MENTAL ILLNESS
Poverty, lack of social support, children from divorced families, exposure to severe trauma, child
sexual abuse etc., are all risk factors for psychiatric illness in later life but these are the same
factors that have been implicated in the genesis of crime and antisocial personality. It is
worthwhile to note that risk factors in the genesis of psychiatric disorders and criminality may be
similar, or at times even the same, but to imply thereby that crime and psychiatric disorders are
causally linked is tenuous and incorrect. There are also a number of factors that predict crime
and violence in the mentally ill. Violence prior to admission to a hospital is associated with
violence after discharge, as is male gender, age, increased length of stay and cognitive
impairment
EFFECT OF SUBSTANCE ABUSE MENTAL HEALTH
An important consideration is the impact of substance abuse in both crime and psychiatry. Long-
term substance abuse is an independent risk factor for violence, and a diagnosis of a substance
abuse disorder places individuals at risk of violence more than any other major mental illness In
those with a major mental disorder, co-morbid substance abuse increases the risk of violence
four-fold. Substance abuse is frequently co-morbid with a variety of mental illnesses (, and levels
of co-morbidity appear to be elevated in mentally ill offenders. Elevated substance abuse in
psychopaths largely explains related violent crime. Comorbid substance abuse may not only
increase the risk of violent crime in the mentally ill, but may account for the relationship entirely,
as studies have found that increased violent crime in the mentally ill is limited to those with a
history of alcohol and/or drug abuse
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN COVID19 PANDEMIC, MENTAL ILLNESS AND CRIME
CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS
Sections in IPC related to crime in mental illness
Laws in inida for mental illness patients and mental health system in india
