Mental Illness And Crime Essay

Certain Mental Illness More Prone to Criminal Behaviour Since centuries ago dating to the time of the great Greek philosopher Socrates, relationship between mental illness and criminal behaviour has been a subject of debate. Socrates had stated that the low crime rate in Athens pointed towards low rate of mental disorder in the society. The question of mental illness and whether it plays a significant role has caught the attention of various groups in the society. Great researchers the likes of Kohlberg, Sigmund and Edens among others played a significant role to show the relationship that existed between mental illness and crime. This paper seeks to analyse whether certain mental illnesses are more prone to criminal behaviour and what is learnt from the analysis. Different theories explain the root of violence among people in the society they range psychodynamic perspective, behavioural theory, cognitive theory and personality theory. These theories explain how different situations and factors affect people behaviour and as a result react in certain ways. Our focus however is dawn to mental illnesses and how they may be associated with criminal behaviour. Over the last 35 years, jails have recorded an increase in the

Mental disorder is a momentous risk factor for violence no matter how much factors are taken into account in any environment (Fazel et.al 2009). Depression, a disorder that is marked with aggression from the research showed that minor depression leads to increase in minor crimes, major bipolar depression isn’t related to high violent behaviour as many may expect. Some mental illnesses like schizophrenia from research are more associated with violent behaviour than others are (Vaughn&Howard