Mental & Emotional Health

The U.S. Supreme Court banned the death penalty for juveniles under 18 in 2005.

I agree with that decision but the conclusions drawn regarding past abuse, mental illness and addiction problems are things that will probably remain constant so will still apply when they’re adults.

Past abuse

Most of the convicted had suffered from some form of psychological, sexual and/or extreme physical abuse in their families. Past family abuse is a well known risk factor for future violent behavior so this doesn’t seem like a surprising find.

Mental Illness

A study of 18 convicted males was “to clarify the ways in which immaturity of their central nervous systems, traumas to their brains, predispositions to psychiatric illness, and chaotic, violent and abusive upbringings may have diminished their judgment and self-control.” (Lewis and colleagues study, 2004)

Signs and symptoms were present in 83% of the condemned, indicating either bi-polar disorder or schizoaffective disorder. I’m not sure how they came up with those labels. It seems many juveniles don’t have fully developed consciences so could be accused of being anti-social as well.

Yet another study confirmed that most psychosocial maturity is incomplete up until the age of 19. This could explain the bi-polar and/or schizo affective disorder suggestion since impulse control is lacking in both. Being mentally ill alone does not necessarily make a person more likely to be violent but an abusive violent family home does.

Addictions

Addictions were also mentioned as a contributing factor but how many youths suffered from a drug addiction wasn’t mentioned. This wouldn’t help anyone’s judgment though regardless of age.

• The only thing that will change is they will probably mature so their impulse control may improve. If juveniles are mentally ill and their frontal lobe is affected, growing older does not guarantee better impulse controls either. Medication may help but that’s only if they’re properly diagnosed and treated once released.

See When is it ‘Cruel and Unusual Punishment’? Supreme Court Bans Juvenile Death Penalty, Arline Kaplin, 2005 for more.

Depending on where you read them, the prison stats vary. Most quote over half the prison population has some sort of mental disorder.

While I don’t have all the exact stats, drug abuse seems to be a close match.

Many people with mental disorders tend to self medicate, especially if they haven’t had a proper medical diagnosis or received help.

From Statistics on Mental Health

• More than 70% of the prison population has two or more mental health disorders. Male prisoners are 14 times more likely to have two or more disorders than men in general, and female prisoners 35 times more likely than women in general. Social Exclusion Unit (2004) quoting, Psychiatric Morbidity Among Prisoners In England And Wales, (1998)

From U.S. Department of Justice & PsychiatryOnline.org

• More than half of prison and jail inmates were found to have a mental health problem, according to a report released by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics in September.

From England’s Department of Health

• Sixty to seventy per cent of them were using drugs before imprisonment and over 70% suffer from at least two mental disorders.

On young people from Prison Reform Trust

• Over 90 per cent of imprisoned young offenders have at least one, or combination of, the following: personality disorder, psychosis, neurotic disorder, or substance misuse.

Lack of Medical Treatment

It appears that many young people with mental disorders end up in prison before they receive medical treatment for their disorder.

There are of course plenty of people with mental disorders who manage to stay out of the prison system. If they have both a drug addiction and a mental disorder the chances of landing in prison seem to increase. Obviously access to a proper diagnosis and treatment is a factor as well.

For example it can take up to ten years to be properly diagnosed with bipolar disorder and many are initially misdiagnosed. Part of the problem there seems to be that many won’t seek help unless they’re depressed. Then of course, they’re diagnosed as having depression.

To me it seems extremely important to diagnose young people earlier because it would improve not only their future prospects but also the rest of society. If a young person ends up in prison when they should have instead been hospitalized, that is bound to make any existing mental illness worse.