Understanding How Mental Illness Impacts the Delivery of Justice.

• Author: Shelton, Kelly
• Position: New Jersey

Today, the responsibility of a prosecutor goes well beyond just prosecuting the case. Prosecutors are responsible for promoting public safety and reducing recidivism in the communities they serve. This development is seen in the criminal justice system, most notably through bail reform and Drug Court initiatives sweeping the country. Equally important but sometimes less understood is how mental illness impacts the criminal justice system. As Warren County Prosecutor Richard T Burke has said, "[k]nowledge and understanding of mental illness is essential to anyone working in the criminal justice system today. If our purpose is to do justice, all stakeholders...prosecutors, law enforcement, treatment providers and the courts must collaborate to address the unique issues of those with disabilities, whether they be perpetrators or victims." This is a multi-faceted complex issue for prosecutors. Chiefly, prosecutors must gain a basic understanding of mental illness. Understandably, it is outside the wheelhouse of most prosecutors. It is not taught in law school generally beyond the issues of competency, insanity or diminished capacity. However, tailing to understand mental illness impacts how prosecutors deliver justice.

First, prosecutors must be open to working with community partners. These relationships will present opportunities to understand the mental health resources available in their community. Mental health providers can assist prosecutors in understanding the fundamentals of mental illness and work toward shared goals with prosecutors. The role of mental health providers is generally to de-stigmatize mental illness, promote treatment, and reduce recidivism. Second, prosecutors must acquire a framework tor addressing both crisis situations and criminal cases involving individuals with mental illness that promote treatment and public safety while reducing recidivism.

Mental illness is far more common in the population than most people want to recognize. According to the National Institute of Mental Illness in 2017, approximately 46.6 million adults in the Unites States live with a mental illness which is approximately one in five people or 18.9% of adults in the United States. (1) To put the prevalence of mental illness in perspective, according to the CDC, in 2017 9.4% of adults of the United States lived with diabetes. (2)

The broad category of mental illness, or AMI (Any Mental Illness), "is defined as a mental, behavioral, or emotional disorder whose impact varies from no impairment to severe impairment." (3) There are over 300 defined mental illnesses. (4) A small subset of those with mental illness are individuals with serious mental illness (SMI). (5) SMI is defined as a "mental, behavioral, or emotional disorder resulting in serious functional impairment, which substantially interferes with or limits one or more major life activities." (6) Individuals living with SMI account for 4.5% of adults in the United States. (7) Diagnoses including schizophrenia, severe bipolar disorder, and severe major depressive disorder are considered serious mental illnesses. (8) "However, when other diagnosis cause significant impairment the person is also considered to have a serious mental illness" according to the website mentalillnesspolicy.org. (9)

One of the serious misperceptions about individuals living with mental illness, especially those with a serious mental illness, is that they are more likely to be violent and the perpetrator of a crime. The reality is, in fact, just the opposite. Individuals with a severe mental illness "are over 10 times more likely to be victims of violent crime than the general population." (10) There can be little doubt that this misperception is a major...