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undergroundpanther Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jan-14-11 03:59 PM
Original message
Criminals getting a get out of jail card in Mental Health Courts..
Edited on Fri Jan-14-11 04:01 PM by undergroundpanther
"There were no real demons, no talking dogs, no satanic henchmen. I made it all up via my wild imagination so as to find some form of justification for my criminal acts against society.”

-”Son of Sam: serial killer, David Berkowitz


They SAY criminal courts will be only for Non-Violent offenders. If it was someone busted with a bag of pot,someone caught dui fine..But from what I have seen the courts are not as careful as the state says it is.Mental Health Court sounds great on paper but in practice it puts the truly mentally ill who are vulnerable, into very real danger.

A program I used to attend had violent offenders in it. I was NOT informed,I found out on my own.Pedophiles& rapists were there pressured people (younger and female) and said sexually twisted things,and no one seemed to bother to tell them to stop it.

I also was triggered by it. And I was really pissed when nothing was done to silence the assholes. Seems sexual threats were not attended to in the program I was at, but cussing was swiftly denounced. We had over the time I was there a bank robber from aryan brotherhood,and some sex offenders. The mentally ill clients were not protected from the psychopaths the state was trying to offload onto the mental health system.This scared the hell out of me.
Although exact prevalence estimates vary, there is a consensus in the field that most consumers of mental health services are trauma survivors and that their trauma experiences help shape their responses to outreach and services.
http://www.samhsa.gov/nctic/


And for the mentally ill this is putting them(and me) in grave danger. Socio-cultural factors include desensitization to violence by staff and doctors, the legal system, the public, and especially client assaulters. This has led society to assume that people with mental illness are not accountable for their actions.

In real life the mentally ill like all people we are responsible for our actions.Schizophrenics like anyone else, have lines they will not cross ethically.And if they cross it,they are tormented by remorse when they realize what harm they caused.Because schizophrenics like other genuine mental illnesses and psychiatric injured and people with a conscience have consciences too.

It is the sociopath that ASSUMES he can do no wrong,and so never owns the choices he makes and never assumes responsibility because he has NO CONSCIENCE.


Conceptualizing mental illness too generally as a cause of criminal involvement is not useful for policy or service implications. Such a strategy de-contextualizes the experience of people with mental illness from broader incarceration patterns in the U.S. When the reasons people go to jail or return to jail are examined, it becomes clear that the key issues are social difficulties complicated by mental illness — but not caused by mental illness.
http://www.emeraldinsight.com/books.htm?chapterid=1782821&show=pdf


The FACT that the state,psychiatrists,psychologists,on down to care taking staff cannot distinguish a mentally ill/psychiatric injured client from one who is a dangerous person really bothers me.


http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/go/position-statements/53
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/BJA/grant/mentalhealth.html
http://www.nri-inc.org/

Psychopaths cannot be cured.It is NOT a MENTAL ILLNESS.
http://www.uncommonforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=24289


At the program I attended I discovered they had these criminals mixed in,younger client felt threatened,trauma clients got triggered,and others taken advantage of financially,etc.

There is no data for long-term trends in homicide by people with mental illness in the US.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn14444-killings-by-the-mentally-ill-reach-new-low.html
http://falseallegations.com/mmpi-bw.htm

It has been estimated that upwards of 20% of those exhibiting mental health problems in correctional settings are malingering.

Practitioners are reluctant to label a patient as a malingerer for many reasons. The following are three commonly cited reasons for reluctance: First, is the difficulty in proving malingering. To do so requires a firm grounding in the phenomenology of genuine mental illness, and a willingness to use resources (e.g., behavioral monitoring, review of historical data, testing) to buy time toward an accurate diagnosis. Second, is the fear of confronting the subject and creating possible embarrassment or provoking retaliation, such as lawsuits. Third, is the knowledge that malingering and genuine mental illness can coexist (i.e., partial malingering) and thus, the fear of denying a truly ill person medical care.

http://www.corrdocs.org/framework.php?pagetype=newsstory&newsid=12160&bgn=2

Although often thought to be peculiar to forensic psychology, experiences of working with violent or aggressive clients are very common amongst psychologists. In a survey of 600 clinical psychologists in the US, 83 per cent of respondents reported that they had felt afraid that a client may attack them and 89 per cent reported feeling afraid that a client may attack a third party. Recent research in Victoria shows that 8 per cent of patients with schizophrenia obtain a conviction for a violent offense at some point in their lives - and that this rate rises to more than 26 per cent for patients who have schizophrenia and a substance use disorder. Additionally, the prevalence of aggressive behavior and violence among psychiatric inpatients is very high

The above examples show that many psychologists working in general settings have experience with violent and aggressive clients or patients. Sadly, though, psychologists are typically ill equipped - from both their training and experience - to accurately identify and manage clients who are at risk for violence.
http://www.psychology.org.au/publications/inpsych/risk/

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn14444-killings-by-the-mentally-ill-reach-new-low.html

And yes contrary to popular belief the mentally ill can buy guns.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748704515904576076200491395200.html

As long as sociopaths,psychopathy,authoritarians,and narcissism are allowed to be included within the spectrum of 'mental illness' ,People with actual mental illness and psychiatric injuries will be hurt,triggered and exploited by the ruthless. as long as the staff and doctors are pretending psychopaths are mentally ill the distinctions are ignored and the risks become dangerously misguided and stupid.And the psychopath is more than willing to play along with this dangerous game.

As usual with such bizarre incidents, the question of whether the killer was mentally ill or insane gets floated. It's a fair question to ask since normal people don't go around assassinating the police, but then neither do people with mental illnesses.
Clemmons had an extensive criminal record, but had been granted clemency in 2000 (by Mike Huckabee no less) for crimes he committed as a teen in Arkansas. Then he moved out to Washington State and was pretty low key until going completely berserk back in May of this year: raping a child, forcing family members to get naked, throwing rocks at neighbors, punching a cop, etc.
http://www.furiousseasons.com/archives/2009/12/lakewood_cop_killer_sociopath_or_mentally_ill.html

As a psychological construct, psychopathy has undergone recent change, and there is still disagreement as to its fundamental character. Nevertheless, it can be reliably and validly measured with such behaviors as callousness, impulsivity, sensation seeking, dishonesty, emotional detachment, extreme selfishness, antisociality, belligerence, juvenile delinquency, and sexual promiscuity. Hare's Psychopathy Checklist-Revised is the best available assessment. Psychopathy exists in women, men, children, and in all racial and ethnic groups examined. No one knows whether some psychopaths function successfully without committing serious offenses. Among institutionalized offender samples, psychopathy is the strongest predictor of violent recidivism and differential response to treatment yet discovered. Although psychopaths can exhibit subtle neurological, physiological, and cognitive differences compared with other people, it is unclear whether these differences constitute defective brain function or the execution of a viable life strategy. http://www.jstor.org/pss/1147675

More..
http://www.olrs.ohio.gov/trauma-informed-treatment
http://www.jaapl.org/cgi/content/full/37/4/442

"It's a rather sad story of stereotyping of the mentally ill as dangerous, and how mental-health policy is so little influenced by evidence."
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Cleita Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jan-14-11 04:12 PM
Response to Original message
1. Actually, I would rather that prisons were modeled on
mental health facilities with an emphasis on healing and rehabilitation and some criminals just need to be removed from society. I was never into the punish them for their crimes mentality. Losing their freedom is usually enough. I think it would speak to us as being civilized. I agree with you that the mentally ill should not be characterized as criminals because the majority aren't. A distinction needs to be made.
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undergroundpanther Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jan-14-11 06:33 PM
Response to Reply #1
3. And some therapists
are trying to make certain things not a valid mental illness (like ptsd which is the only psychiatric disorder that has a certain set of unique criteria and scars in the brain.)

While making psychopathy a 'mental illness' which cannot be cured or even helped.And exposure to therapy makes psychopaths worse.More manipulating,more accurate malingering..making distinctions more difficult.

In between there are people with real mental issues suffering,and these suffering people are being put in danger. And not being an addict or criminal,the really mentally ill may possibly be overlooked, their symptoms minimized by staff. Staff can burn out from dealing with psychopaths.Psychopaths gaming fucking everyone.And still some"professionals" let ideology trump reality,(everyone is good deep down,etc.etc.).And the people who see them once a month or so are not aware of the criminal's history enough to see the malingering. And staff time consumed with psychopaths to the point they give in to the demanding petulant ever threatening narcissistic behaviors.Because if staff are being driven up a wall ,there will be high staff turnover..Stress induced by the real psychopaths on the hands on staff,may be minimized by everyone higher up the psych system food chain who see the criminal very differently because they don't see them enough yet go to all the seminars and lectures and believe in their own bullshit a bit too much...
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undergroundpanther Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jan-14-11 06:39 PM
Response to Reply #1
4. Good idea
IF psychopaths are weeded OUT.And be sure no high functioning psychopaths are WORKING as doctors or staff in that system as well.

Psychopathy HAS to be something separated from all other illnesses,because the psychopath suffers nothing from what they are..BUT the psychopath will make anyone traumatized who has to have contact with them.Psychopathy is like a personality based contagion,it spreads mental illness to everyone else.

Denial,insight and compromise with psychopaths is IMPOSSIBLE.
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Mnemosyne Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jan-14-11 05:32 PM
Response to Original message
2. KnR for truth and visibility. n/t
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Jamastiene Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-15-11 09:39 AM
Response to Original message
5. Thank you.
Very well stated. K&R
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sam sarrha Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-15-11 04:27 PM
Response to Original message
6. great post ..undergroundpanther.. i used to be a Parole officer, did a lot of work in the Prison.. i
started a pilot program teaching Meditation as a counseling tool, i got such Miraculous results so quick that the "Powers that Be" canceled my project... limited my access.

great Video.. http://www.dhamma.org/en/av/dtdv.shtml
"snip...This year's Golden Gate awards competition was incredibly strong & close, as we had a over 1600 entries from 58 countries in the 35 categories.'

DTDV most recently won a "Silver Plaque" award in the INTERCOM - The International Communications Film & Video Competition, in Chicago.

The film also received an award in 1999 from the American National Council on Crime & Delinquency ("NCCD"). NCCD wrote as follows about its decision to present this award:

'Congratulations! I am pleased to inform you that you are a recipient of the NCCD PASS Awards. The National Council on Crime & Delinquency is honored to recognize your excellence in communicating the complex problems of crime to the American people. We hope this award will serve as a contact reminder that your work can make a difference.

A distinguished panel of experts found your work, "Doing Time, Doing Vipassana", to be worthy of recognition and deserving of special acclaim. This award is presented to members of the media who have made an important contribution toward raising the public's awareness and understanding of our criminal and juvenile justice system.

Your ability to present the "why" of crime is more important that ever. Our goal is to reach the public with messages that make them think and refocus their attention on alternatives for social justice. We want to inspire hope and participation from our citizens by presenting other approaches by informing local citizens of model prevention programs that exists in their very own communities..snip"


http://www.google.com/#q=doing+time+doing+Vipassana&hl=en&pwst=1&prmd=ivns&source=univ&tbs=vid:1&tbo=u&ei=sQoyTaypE5C_gQez3-y8Cw&sa=X&oi=video_result_group&ct=title&resnum=2&sqi=2&ved=0CEIQqwQwAQ&fp=896ffb7fd7ea779b
______________________________________________________________________________________________

i have spent a fair amount of time lurking around Tea Party Lair's.. they are very disturbing.. they have Totally De-Humanized anyone who doesnt high-5 them and childishly giggle about the suffering of the less fortunate.. they are obviously totally brainwashed with Dominionist Ideology's. such as the 'C street Fellowship' Veridie's Nazi Supremest notions incarnate.. such as wealth, and power over others is proof of gods favor of a man..thus it is a sin to tax a rich man/Fascist Corporation.. and it follows that the Poor are being punished by god so it is a sin to help them.

the GOP/NeoCons are TOTALLY OWNED BY THESE EVIL CREATONS... they are set up in "Cells", like secret Terrorist cells, where no one knows who else is a member. this is all really freaky.. they are involved in every and any despotic murderous dictator, probably every genocide, if there is any big money being made of the suffering of others.. they are probably responsible, and making big profits on it.

http://www.amazon.com/Family-Secret-Fundamentalism-Heart-American/dp/0060560053/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1295126665&sr=8-1

Review
“An astounding entrée to a fascinating Christian network unknown to most Americans. . . . A must-read for any American who wants to know who is actually pulling the strings at the highest levels of power.” (Heidi Ewing, co-director Jesus Camp )

“Jeff Sharlet provides a fascinating account of how part of American Christianity has gone off on a dangerous tangent. It should worry everyone—maybe especially those of us who understand the Gospels to be a call to help the powerless, not prop up the powerful.” (Bill McKibben, author of The End of Nature and The Bill McKibben Reader )

“I was once an insider’s insider within fundamentalism. Unequivocally: Sharlet knows what he’s talking about. . . . Those who want to be un-deceived (and wildly entertained) must read this disturbing tour de force.” (Frank Schaeffer, author of Crazy For God: How I Grew Up As One Of The Elect, Helped Found The Religious Right, And Lived To Take All (Or Almost All) Of It Back )

“Un-American theocrats can only fool patriotic American democrats when there aren’t critics like Jeff Sharlet around—careful scholars and soulful writers who understand both the majesty of faith and the evil of its abuses. A remarkable accomplishment in the annals of writing about religion.” (Rick Perlstein, author of Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America )
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