Forensics As Bartol & Bartol Discussion Chapter

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Thus, the link between mental disorders and criminal behaviors is more complex than the simplistic question would assume. If the question must be answered with a clear yes or no, then the answer would be no: criminal behavior is not in and of itself a mental disorder. Criminal behavior can be used as a warning sign to test for mental disorders, and then that would allow psychologists to treat the underlying cause of the criminal behavior. As Cauffman (2008) puts it, "effective prevention efforts should target the mental health needs of at-risk females before they lead to chronic behavior problems," (p. 119).

Some criminal behaviors are not indicative of mental illness because they are acts arbitrarily defined as crimes. When Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was put into a Birmingham jail, he wrote a letter that describes why some laws are unjust and simply meant to be broken.

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It takes a mentally ill person to obey laws related to segregation, and a mentally healthy person to break laws related to segregation. Therefore, crime cannot be used as a universal indicator of mental health. Likewise, mental health cannot be used as a blanket stigma for people who might commit crimes. This is not what researchers are trying to say, however, because there are a host of mental illnesses that are not linked to criminal behaviors at all. The mental illnesses that are linked to criminal behavior are often not linked in as causal or direct manner as anti-social (psychopathic) personality disorder. Some mental illnesses are only correlated with criminal behavior, such as substance abuse disorder. Most persons who use drugs will never commit a violent or property crime at all......

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