Social justice has influence change in policies for the mentally ill. Opening the doors for political reform. Throughout history, the treatment of the mentally ill has taken many shapes. Influence by the time periods core values and ideas of social justice. Before the colonization, society did not see the mentally ill as human beings. This ideology was Influence by religion that considered them to be evil or demons. Especially during the Black Death when people were only looking for escape goats. Day, & Schiele, (2013) This would only make things worse for mentally disabled. Rendering them defenseless and at the will of society. Their disabling conditions would prevent them from self-advocacy. They would have to depend on family members to advocate; and demand social justice for them. The overwhelming societal norms influence by religion and fueled by fear punishment appeared to be the only solution. The idea of social justice was surprisingly initially rooted within the Catholic Church, who was conservative and against democracy. The term Social Justice was initially coined by Luigi Taparelli D’Azeglio, who was born in Italy and was a devoted catholic who worked for the Catholic Church. Burke T. P. (2008) Thomas Patrick burke illustrates how Luigi Taparelli D’Azeglio noted that “Social Justice should, therefore, level all men in regard to the rights given with their humanity, since the Creator has equalized them by nature; man fulfills the intentions of his maker by acting according to the norm of this justice.” Burke T. P. (2008) Explain that Luigi Taparelli D’Azeglio idea originated from the bible idea of all man being equal, but describes how in order to have social justice Luigi Taparelli D’Azeglio emphasized in taking into... ... middle of paper ... ...ished the National Institution of Mental Health that overseas mental health institution. The Mental Health Act provides check and balances for the mental health services it provides and those who provide its services. Works Cited Aabbco LLC. (n.d.). Philippe Pinel. Retrieved from http://www.pinelschool.org/pp.htm Day P. J., Schiele J. H. (2013) A NEW HISTORY OF SOCIAL WELFARE (7th ed.) Location: United States National Institutes of Health. (2005). The NIH Almanac-Organization. Retrieved from http://www.nih.gov/about/almanac/archive/2003/organization/NIMH.htm Paulo Freire, (1970) PEDAGOGY OF THE OPPRESSED (30TH ed.) Location: New York Burke T. P. (2008). The Origins of Social Justice: Taparelli d’Azeglio. The Home of American Intellectual Conservatism — First Principles, Retrieved from. http://www.firstprinciplesjournal.com/print.aspx?article=1760&loc=b&type=cbtp
As a result of the lack of regulation in state mental institutions, most patients were not just abused and harassed, but also did not experience the treatment they came to these places for. While the maltreatment of patients did end with the downsizing and closing of these institutions in the 1970’s, the mental health care system in America merely shifted from patients being locked up in mental institutions to patients being locked up in actual prisons. The funds that were supposed to be saved from closing these mental institutions was never really pumped back into treating the mentally ill community. As a result, many mentally ill people were rushed out of mental institutions and exposed back into the real world with no help where they ended up either homeless, dead, or in trouble with the law. Judges even today are still forced to sentence those in the latter category to prison since there are few better options for mentally ill individuals to receive the treatment they need. The fact that America, even today, has not found a proper answer to treat the mentally ill really speaks about the flaws in our
Dolgoff, R. & Feldstein, D. (2003). Understanding social welfare (7th ed). New York, Allen & Bacon
O?Beirne, Kate. ?The State of Welfare: An old and tricky question resurfaces.? National Review 54.2 (February 11, 2002): 1--2. Online. Information Access Expanded
Edmund Burke was an Irish political theorist and a philosopher who became a leading figure within the conservative party. Burke has now been perceived as the founder of modern conservatism. He was asked upon to write a piece of literature on the French Revolution. It was assumed that as an Englishman, Burke’s words would be positive and supportive. Given that he was a member of the Whig party, and that he supported the Glorious Revolution in England. Contrary to what was presumed of him, Burke was very critical of the French Revolution. He frequently stated that a fast change in society is bad. He believed that if any change to society should occur, it should be very slow and gradual.
In the 1800’s people with mental illnesses were frowned upon and weren't treated like human beings. Mental illnesses were claimed to be “demonic possessions” people with mental illnesses were thrown into jail cells, chained to their beds,used for entertainment and even killed. Some were even slaves, they were starved and forced to work in cold or extremely hot weather with chains on their feet. Until 1851, the first state mental hospital was built and there was only one physician on staff responsible for the medical, moral and physical treatment of each inmate. Who had said "Violent hands shall never be laid on a patient, under any provocation.
“The Great Depression was a worldwide economic slump of the 1930’s” (Fetzer; p.338). The Great Depression caused a catastrophic amount of grief and distress for the citizens of the United States. Some of these citizens, however, faced more problems which caused grief and distress than others. Among those citizens were the mentally ill. During the era of the Great Depression, the mentally handicapped were treated unfairly in almost every aspect of their lives; this included how society treated them, how they were treated medically, and even how their personal lives were affected.
Frohnen, Bruce. “Burkean Virtue and the Conservative Good Life.” Perspectives on Political Science 21.1 (1994): 4-15.
For many decades the mentally ill or insane have been hated, shunned, and discriminated against by the world. They have been thrown into cruel facilities, said to help cure their mental illnesses, where they were tortured, treated unfairly, and given belittling names such as retards, insane, demons, and psychos. However, reformers such as Dorothea Dix thought differently of these people and sought to help them instead. She saw the inhumanity in these facilities known as insane asylums or mental institutions, and showed the world the evil that wandered inside these asylums. Although movements have been made to improve conditions in insane asylums, and were said to help and treat the mentally ill, these brutally abusive places were full of disease and disorder, and were more like concentration camps similar to those in Europe during WWII than hospitals.
As time goes on, the law has put more emphasis on facility just like Bridgewater State Hospital in which many of the actions of the facility workers can face legal consequences such as facing prison time, fines, lawsuits, and etc. Society has a better understanding of why certain people act the way that they do and being more knowledgeable about psychology and mental diseases allows us to have a different approach when dealing with these topics or these individuals. In today’s era, there are many normal individuals who are willing to stand up for those who do not have a voice of their own. I believe that this change in one’s ability to stand up for another individual or group of individuals is what brought about change to the medical environment of those who are mentally
Blau, J. (2004). The dynamics of social welfare policy. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, Inc.
This mini-paper will discuss the social welfare system. The mini-paper includes a discussion of welfare Policy, residual and institutional approach, and what is Social Welfare and Social Security. Midgely, (2009), pointed out that social welfare systems deliver services that facilitate and empower our society, especially to those persons who require assistance in meeting their basic human needs. The goal of social welfare is to provide social services to citizens from diverse cultures, and examples include Medicare, Medicaid, and food benefits. Midgley,( 2009).
Murray, Sara. “Numbers On Welfare See Sharp Increase.” The Wall Street Journal. 22 Jun. 2009. 20 May. 2012.
The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world and of that over sixty percent of jail inmates reported having a mental health issue and 316,000 of them are severely mentally ill (Raphael & Stoll, 2013). Correctional facilities in the United States have become the primary mental health institutions today (Adams & Ferrandino, 2008). This imprisonment of the mentally ill in the United States has increased the incarceration rate and has left those individuals medically untreated and emotionally unstable while in jail and after being released. Better housing facilities, medical treatment and psychiatric counseling can be helpful in alleviating their illness as well as upon their release. This paper will explore the increasing incarceration rate of the mentally ill in the jails and prisons of the United States, the lack of medical services available to the mentally ill, the roles of the police, the correctional officers and the community and the revolving door phenomenon (Soderstrom, 2007). It will also review some of the existing and present policies that have been ineffective and present new policies that can be effective with the proper resources and training. The main objective of this paper is to illustrate that the criminalization of the mentally ill has become a public health problem and that our policy should focus more on rehabilitation rather than punishment.
Social Justice is equality and fairness for all human beings. It is the subject of many official Catholic teachings and Catholics Organisation. To understand the reasons for the compassion and love by Catholics seeking peace and justice for all humanity, it is important to examine a specific example of human injustice in the world today.
The injustices that plague the mentally disabled are an issue of society, They are consistently marginalized by employers, society, and on the state and Federal level. If the society cannot change the treatment of the mentally disabled, they may regress and view themselves as worthless, only to have the stigma and society to discriminate against them. While progress has been shown with the Acts and Bills put in place, how long will it last? as a society we cannot afford to use potential assets by shameful discrimination. We know the oppression that comes with being mentally disabled, and we know how horrible one can be to someone different. These days acceptance in society and having everyone do their part is how we get the marginalized and oppressed to a functioning part of society.