The Myth of Preventive Detainment: Why Classifying People With Mental Illness as Criminals Won’t Help “Them” or “Us”

OPEN MINDS, The Behavioral Health & Social Service Industry Analyst Cover Story The past two months have been full of stories written at that messy intersection of mental illness and the criminal justice system. It appears that, as a nation and as a matter of public policy, we are having difficulty separating the disease from the resulting behavior. I am struck by the many proposals on the table — that the only way we’re willing to spend money on individuals with mental illness or chemical dependency is to make them criminals. Obviously, the Virginia Tech story has dominated the news . . .