Data
Data from popular national representatives suggest that people with mental illness and SUD have high risks for non-medical use of prescription opioids. For instance, Poremski et al. (2018) suggest that forty-three percent of people under SUD treatment for non-medical prescription painkillers have mental illnesses, particularly anxiety and depression.
The increasing number of people with mental health and SUD in the criminal justice system has significant health, fiscal, and human costs. Poremski et al. (2018) suggest that diverting people with mental illnesses and SUD away from prisons and jails is essential in addressing criminality. US criminal justice system should implement community-based mental healthcare, rather than jailing or imprisoning people with mental illnesses. Thus, local, state and national strategies to support mental illness people should focus on eliminating unnecessary involvement in the criminal and juvenile justice system (RachBeisel et al. 2019). In this case, RachBeisel et al. (2019) suggest that the government should support mentally ill people by implementing an accessible health system. Law enforcement officers, prosecutors, public defenders, advocates, court personnel, and legislators have a significant role in addressing mental illness and criminality. According to Folsom et al. (2017), the maximum diversion of individuals with serious mental illnesses from the criminal justice system is necessary for reducing health, financial, and human involvement and incarceration costs. From this perspective, creating co-profit-based services for people with mental illnesses and law enforcement engagement is useful in addressing criminality. Folsom et al. (2017) discovered that many children and youth in the juvenile system have trauma and mental illness history that is often ignored, leading to severe mental illnesses and long-term jails and imprisonments. Poremski et al. (2018) argue that pre-booking diversion, for young people, that keeps them in the community and school is key to reducing criminality. Effective diversion should involve voluntary engagement and minimize coercive practices that might threaten a particular treatment intervention. According to Lamb et al. (2017), timely and accurate mental health evaluation and screening are critical in diverting individuals from the criminal justice system. Therefore, stakeholders in the community should formulate services that meet mentally ill people’s needs.
Research Strategy
The study uses qualitative research methods for data collections. Recent research on mental illness is useful for this study since they contain detailed information. Thus, the study evaluates and compares recent research to draw relevant evidence. The study uses online articles and journals, which provide evidence and examples to support ideas. The latest research, not older than five years, is useful for this study since it contains updated information that is relevant to current issues of mental illness in the US.
The study recognizes the usefulness of the focus group in meeting its primary objectives. While the study’s primary objective is to show potential risks of mental illness, it focuses on people who use drugs, conduct crimes, and homeless. These focus groups are essential in this study because they provide the first-hand information. In this case, the study observes a real-life situation in the American criminal justice system, substance use, and homelessness to draw relevant examples to support arguments. These focus groups also enhance comparison between publications and a real-life situation, developing a rational conclusion.
Most importantly, the study uses the literature review to compare different researchers’ arguments regarding the potential risks of mental illness. The literature review is developed from recent studies related to the topic of study. These studies facilitate comparison, helping the study identify appropriate interventions to address the mental illness, substance use, homelessness, and crime. The literature review is developed from existing documents that provide useful secondary data. The study uses quantitative methods to analyze secondary data through content analysis. The study also measures the state of mental illness in the US using quantitative data from relevant researches. The measurements develop insight about course actions, such as community-based programs to address homelessness, criminality, and drug abuse.
Research Findings
Hundreds of thousands of Americans spend the night on the streets, whereby most of them have serious mental illnesses. 6000,000 people with mental illnesses are homeless as the condition is expected to increase in the next years. Welty et al. (2019) suggest that two to three percent of the population might join the homeless population over a five-year period due to mental illness. Serious mental illnesses inhibit people’s ability to perform daily activities such as self-care and household management. Mental health disorders inhibit people’s ability to build and maintain stable relationships. Furthermore, people tend to have different perceptions of the mentally ill that might prevent victims from accessing care. This often leads to pushing away family, friends, and caregivers who would promote treatment. Thus, people with mental health disorders are vulnerable to homelessness because they don’t have family, friends, or other people’s support. Poor mental health may affect the physical health of homeless people. According to Rossman (2016), mental illness influences people to neglect to take appropriate precautions against diseases. Mental illness and homelessness have critical issues, such as inadequate hygiene, which can trigger respiratory infections, exposure to tuberculosis or HIV, and skin diseases. Half of the homeless population with mental illness suffers from substance use and dependence. Minorities, particularly African Americans, are over-represented in mental illness and homelessness. While most mental illness and homelessness programs focus on housing, they may not meet primary needs. People with mental illnesses may remain on the streets until they access treatment and essential services. RachBeisel et al. (2019) suggest that supported housing is useful for addressing mental illness and homelessness because it involves health, education, employment, peer support, and other interventions. Supported housing programs offer mental health treatment and create employment opportunities, preventing depression, anxiety, and other disorders that would result in homelessness.
The study also discovered that mental drug use in childhood and adolescence has potential risks for serious mental illnesses. According to Folsom et al. (2017), the brain significantly develops during childhood and adolescence, exposing individuals to the risks of mental disorders. 2.6 percent of people below eighteen years in the US have ADHD. The disorder is apparent in young children in the preschool. Three to five percent of children in the US have ADHD, representing two million individuals. This means that in a classroom of twenty-five to thirty children, at least one child has ADHD. When teenagers encounter emotional problems, they usually turn to drug or alcohol use to manage their conditions. While adolescent brains are not fully developed, they may develop serious mental illnesses rather than relieving their emotional problems. Thus, substance use can lead to unexpected mental health disorders such as anxiety, hopelessness, negative thoughts, and irritability. SUD escalates from experimentation to serious mental illnesses faster in adolescents than in adults. Mental illness and SUD is a crucial problem in American teenagers because it might not be easily noticeable. However, the research reveals that teenagers with anxiety or depression disorders may feel more emotionally, despite drinking alcohol or smoking marijuana. Teens with anxiety may think that smoking marijuana calms them down before social events. However, teens become addicted to substance use, exposing themselves to serious mental illness. The particular perception of substance use encourages many teenagers in America to smoke marijuana or drink alcohol, leading to SUD. For instance, Allen (2018) suggests that teenagers with depression disorders believe that drinking alcohol cheers them up. Mental illnesses have more severe SUD in teenagers than adults.
Most importantly, the study found that specific mental illnesses increase individuals’ risk of committing crimes. People with mental illnesses are more prone to violence than the general population. Lack of adequate treatment exposes individuals to the risk of committing crimes. Welty et al. (2019) suggest that mentally ill people can be more prone to violent crimes if they don’t access adequate treatment. Most people who commit serious crimes, such as mass shootings, in America, often under mental health disorder influence. SUD, employment, and homelessness influence drive mentally ill people to commit serious crimes. Comorbid SUD is the most critical factor for criminality and violence among mentally ill people. Clark (2017) reveals that many people with mental illnesses face severe barriers to access mental health treatment. In essence, many individuals with mental health disorders don’t receive adequate and timely treatment, leading to serious illnesses. Inadequate budgeting and funding for public mental health have presented many individuals from accessing treatment, leading to serious conditions that influence them to commit crimes. Mental illnesses are crucial for the US criminal justice system because people with mental health conditions are often treated unfairly. Mentally ill individuals often face unfair justice and abuse at any stage of involvement with the juvenile and criminal justice system. Four percent of American youths have faced unfair life imprisonment because of their mental conditions. 16.9 percent of adults in US local jails have serious mental illnesses. Hence, the criminal justice system faces serious challenges in addressing the individuals’ mental illness needs in jails or prisons. Jailing and imprisoning people with mental illnesses has contributed to the increased population, forcing the government to increase its expenditure on crime. Generally, the findings support the research’s hypothesis that mental illness has significant effects on homelessness, crime, and drug use.
Conclusion
There is a significant relationship between mental illness and drug use, homelessness, or crime. Mental illnesses inhibit individuals’ ability to interact with family, friends, and other people in society, leading to homelessness. Homeless people with mental illnesses are vulnerable to various diseases since they have little access to healthcare. US government should realize that housing programs are complex and difficult to address mental illness and homelessness. Neighbors and landlords don’t want mental ill and homeless people. Therefore, government should establish community-based programs to ensure adequate treatment and continuous support for mentally ill and homeless people. Most mental ill don’t want to live with other mentally ill people, they prefer living with a family or supportive housing. Thus rehabilitation services should adopt particular interventions to provide family support and supportive housing, which are essential in mental illness treatment and eliminating homelessness. Federal agencies should be flexible in supporting mentally ill and homeless people to offer care according to their needs. In criminal justice system, diversion is useful in ensuring fair justice to people will mental illnesses. Instead of holding mentally ill people in jails and prisons, law enforcement agencies should provide accessible mental health. Lack of adequate treatment leads to serious mental illnesses that influence people to commit violent crimes. In this sense, low enforcement agencies should establish programs that focuses on addressing serious mental illnesses rather than detaining victims in jails and prisons. This way, the criminal justice system would address the overpopulation in jails and prison, by avoiding unnecessary long-term imprisonments. Teenagers are more vulnerable to substance use because they often use drugs under emotional influence. Anxiety and depression influences teenagers to smoke marijuana or drink alcohol. The habit leads to substance use disorder (SUD) that has serious risks such as impaired judgement. Therefore, the government should also develop specific programs to address teenagers’ mental illnesses and substance use.