Should a person on the verge of a psychotic break who has committed crimes be released after being given the all clear in a mental institution?

People with mental illness can sometimes have a psychotic break. Meaning that someone loses touch with reality. They can experience delusions, hallucinations and disorganzied speech (any interruption that makes communication difficult and sometimes impossible). when a person gets this it can lead them to do reckless behavior, or action in which they believe are "the right thing to do". Although we might see only the bad in theses actions we should also look at it in their point of view.

Main topics I will be covering:

  • How a mentally person Rehabilitates.

  • The goals for a person in Rehab.

  • The access people have when trying to treat their illness.

  • How people fear too much of what they don't understand.

Survey Results:

In my survey “ should a person on the verge of a psychotic break who committed a crime be released after being given the all clear in a mental institution?” Out of 24 of the people surveyed, 15 people said that they shouldn’t be released. Their reasoning behind that response is the people with mental illness know what they're doing and if they are released they would most likely do it again. Leaving 8 out of 24 people surveyed said they should be released. As to what their reasoning was is because they felt that those people are rehabilitating, they were given the all clear, and they might be wrongfuly accused.

Interview Summary:

The purpose of my interview is to get a better indepth understanding of what happends to a person when having a psychotic break. My interviewe was my moms co worker Tiffany Lopez and she is 35 years old. Tiffany has a 27 year old brother who does drugs and has a mental illness. She had witness him have a psychotic break. She said that one day she and her husband were joking playing fighting in the living room and when her brother saw it he suddenly ran at him and proceeded to hit him. They then got him off his husband and she asked him why did he do that and he said because he thought they he was actually abusing her. What I have learned from this story is that sometimes situations can be misunderstood by people with mental illnesses.

Personal Opinion:

Although when first researching about this topic I thought we shouldn’t let them out, that they would do the same crime another time. But after researching my topic more in-depth and learning others story’s I was now in between. My reason for that is because I believe it can depend on the type of crime they did or are being accused of. For example things such as murder is a crime that I wouldn’t let a person be released form. But then there are certain cases in which the person is being wrongful accused of.

Did you know that if you or someone you knew had a mental illness they have a 1 in 10 chance of being arrested. People always assume that because you’re in jail you are an evil/bad person. They also assume that because you have a mental illness you are inhumane or not normal. In my survey “ Should a person on the verge of a psychotic break who commits crimes be released after going to a mental institution and being clear?” Out of 24 of the people surveyed 15 people said that they shouldn’t be released because they know what they're doing and if they are released they would do it again. Nevertheless 8 out of 24 people surveyed said they should be released be they are rehabilitating and they were given the all clear. Although the number is low I agree with the 8 individuals who agree that they should be released because being clear means they're rehabilitating, second if they were given the service earlier on people wouldn't be so quick to say no and lastly if they were not feared as much maybe others would give them a chance.

Given the fact that they are sent to a mental institution and are being cleared,we should know that they've gone through previous steps to make them that way. For example in ( Psychiatric rehabilitation today: an overview) it states “ The first strategy is individual-centered and aims at developing the patient's skills in interacting with a stressful environment. The second strategy is ecological and directed towards developing environmental resources to reduce potential stressors.” This provides evidence on the process they go through to get the mentally ill better. It also goes to show how if they were to be released they would have develop a way a reduce their stressors which many cause them to act out in stressful situations. Another reason is according to ( Psychiatric rehabilitation today: an overview) it also states that their goal is “to help individuals to develop the emotional, social and intellectual skills needed to live, learn and work in the community with the least amount of professional support. The overall philosophy of psychiatric rehabilitation comprises two intervention strategies.”This shows that in order for a person to be clear they must have been cleared enough in which they are stable on their own. Also that they are given skills needed to live without any harm.

If they had the the service earlier on people maybe you wouldn’t say no. All we want is for the people who are in in prison to be cured and they can but most of the time they aren't just provided with it. For example in (The Gaping Hole in the Prison Early Release Program, by Amy Alexander) she states “"We have an enormous number of people who are suffering from very treatable illnesses who are not getting treatment and who end up getting caught in the criminal-justice system as opposed to the mental-health system,”this shows an example that these people who are in jail have curable illness but aren't given the treatment. Therefore they are sent to jail or prison and when are release people see them as bad people who should have stayed in prison because they think “since they committed a crime before what makes them not commit it again?”. Another example is in (The Gaping Hole in the Prison Early Release Program, by Amy Alexander) she also states ““mental-health concerns” among 64 percent of inmates in the nation’s jails, 54 percent of state prisoners, and among 45 percent of inmates at federal facilities.” This tells me that there's a lot of people with mental illness and possibly some of them have treatable illness but aren't given the chance to be treated before giving them a bad reputation.

Lastly, if they were not feared as much maybe others would give them a chance. People are always afraid of the unknown and don’t like to go into things not knowing the outcome. In a way people see mentally ill people as the unknown. In a Ted x Talks about (Criminalization of mentally ill by Reagan Kremer ) she states “ People are given the myth that people who are mentally ill are violent and unpredictable and therefore extremely dangerous.” She is absolutely right, in my survey their were people who said that they are violent and shouldn’t be released. Knowing that is completely not okay with me because those people don’t understand that everyone is like that. In the same ted talk (Criminalization of mentally ill by Reagan Kremer ) she states how her brother who had a mental disorder was treated inhumanely because he didn’t know how to act in a certain situation. So because of that he was arrested and put under a mask and taken away from his family. He was later released and told his sister that during that time he felt “ so scared and so alone”. This shows how we all have feelings and shouldn’t be looked differently also we can people can be put into prison because others fear them.

In conclusion we should released a person who committed a crime while on a psychotic break because they're rehabilitating and have gone through different processes Second if they were given the service earlier on people would’t say no and wouldn’t have that bad reputation. Lastly if they were not feared as much maybe others would give them a chance and opened them with warm hands. Overall we should stop fearing them and stop looking at them inhumane but look at them as they were yourself.

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