Criminals with mental illness

[GrimJack]

What percentage of criminals (or at least people who get arrested, in general) have some kind of mental illness? I'm not looking for exact numbers, or detailed statistics -- just a sort of ballpark estimate based on your experiences with the general public.

Also, what percentage of people with some kind of mental illness will eventually be arrested for some offense?

I'm talking about the traditional categorization of mental illnesses such as mania, schizophrenia, depression, and so on. (Actually, I'm particularly interested in depression, especially in the case where people with depression have anger management issues.) I don't consider alcoholism, cocaine abuse, marijuana use, stimulant abuse, downer abuse, or any other kind of drug use as a mental illness -- those are lifestyle choices.

Come to think of it, maybe depression shouldn't be considered an "illness" any more -- depression can often be the result of bad lifestyle choices as well.

[taylorplayer]

In my experience, 100% of criminals have a mental illness.

However, if you are looking for a hard statistic on convicted criminals who have exhibited behavior that would allow them to be categorized by the DSM-IV as "mentally ill", then you have a research project ahead of you.

I would suggest looking through articles published by the APA (American Psychological Association) for your answer.

I don't know of many others on this site who have formal education in Psychology, and this is not something they teach in the academy, or something that most cops think/care about. Ergo my first comment.

Good luck with your research, I think you'll find the "ballpark" is about 60-70% of felons have a mental illness, but I don't have any references to back that up.

[Jay7376]

Also, what percentage of people with some kind of mental illness will eventually be arrested for some offense?

Sorry, my crystal ball is on the fritz again, therefore I am currently unable to predict the future. Maybe another officer with a more reliable crystal ball with help you out.

[SnapShawt]

These stats can be found very easily with minimal research. However, I doubt you'll find anything solid on the future question. I loaned my crystal ball to Jay and look what he's gone and done to it.

In the academy, cadets are taught how to handle people with different types of mental illnesses. Beyond that is academic and doesn't mean squat out here.

[deputywave]

Also, what percentage of people with some kind of mental illness will eventually be arrested for some offense?

The answer is 100% of people arrested for committing a crime that also have some sort of mental illness.:confused::eek::D

[xndr]

Now hold on a second guys... Are we considering stupidity a mental illness? ;)

[Johninaustin]

Aside from stupid, I'd say about 40% of the petty crime and homeless, and maybe 5% of the serious stuff.

The problem comes in the definitions.

[GrimJack]

Now hold on a second guys... Are we considering stupidity a mental illness? ;)

Not according to the DSM-IV. Otherwise, I'd probably be sitting out a 72-hour hold right now for even asking this question in the first place, and I probably would have been given a 30-day inpatient commitment for having backed up into another car in a parking lot six months ago.

I was mainly looking for the "gut feeling" of officers who have to deal with mentally ill criminal scumbags out there. I'm sure that there are plenty of studies out there that correlate criminal activity to diagnosed mental disorders, but I'm more interested in the opinions of the people who carry Tasers and handcuffs than the people who carry clipboards and white lab coats.

[retdetsgt]

It's virtually impossible to give a coherent answer to that. Some are obviously nuts, some are just mean. Some are reckless and think they can get away with something. Every kid that steals a candy bar isn't mentally ill nor is the teenager who shoplifts for the thrill of it. Generally getting caught means that's the last time they will do that. Same with drunk drivers, a huge percentage never do it again after they face the consequences the first time.

All that being said, the current trend to put mentally ill people out in the community and assume they'll take their meds has raised the number of mentally ill in prisons. A guilty but for insanity verdict is still difficult to get in most states. Which is good because by definition, most sex offenders are mentally ill.

[xndr]

I'm more interested in the opinions of the people who carry Tasers and handcuffs than the people who carry clipboards and white lab coats.

That was well said.. That being said, looking at the numbers may be the only way to actually get an answer to your question. I'm not a psychologist or a statistician.

However if you want my personal opinion. From my short LE career so far most of the real criminals (I wonder if they have their own website? ) that I've interviewed or just talked to on the way up to the pokie appear to be sociopaths. Just people with completely abnormal personalities who have no moral base. They only care about what impacts themselves and do not distinguish from right and wrong.

[DeltaV]

Researching someone's background to see if they've ever been diagnosed with a mental illness isn't something that we do when we make an arrest. In most cases we arrest the criminal even if they do appear mentally ill and their attorney can make motions if they want their mental condition evaluated. It's usually not something that we consider out in the field, especially if they're facing felony charges.

In my experience, at least half of the homeless population we deal with on a regular basis appears to have some sort of mental illness. The number is probably even higher than that, but again I don't know if any of them have been officially diagnosed with a mental illness. Other than them, those who commit sex offenses also seem to have mental illness to a large extent.

If you take out the sex offenders and the homeless, I haven't encountered too many people committing crimes who I would really classify as mentally ill. While some of them may have been diagnosed with a mental illness, I think it's also hard to prove whether or not that mental illness is going to contribute to them committing crime. Is someone who has been diagnosed with clinical depression going to have the same propensity to commit a robbery as someone who is a Schizophrenic?