Capstone: Criminal Justice Thesis

CHAPTER THREE

METHODOLOGY

Purpose of the study

This dissertation aims to carry out a quantitative and qualitative study to establish if there exists a connection is between mental illness and violent crime so as to explain the phenomenon of the increasing trend of mentally ill people in prisons. As well the study would establish if having a mental illness increasing one’s risk of committing a violent crime. The study will also focus on the cases of recidivism among the mentally ill offenders.

Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to carry out important research to investigate the relationship existing between Mental illness and violent crime. Through this evaluation, it will become possible to understand the different factors which lead to this case scenario by pinpointing the causative factors and then collect data which will culminate in the required analysis. The importance of this study is to understand the relationship between mental illness and violent crime so as to clarify the growing trend of increasing mentally ill convicts in prisons. Through the objectives of the study, it will be easier to evaluate the various instances which arise from the relationship between mental illness and violent crime.

Research design

Creswell (2017) describes research design as a foundation for performing research with total control over the factors which may inhibit the validity of the results. Meyers (2016) defines research design as a blueprint which provides a detail description of how data will be collected and analyzed, where it will be collected and analyzed and finally when the gathering and evaluation of data will be done. Christensen (2011) defines research design as the map of the researcher for giving a conclusive answer to the research question and also testing the hypothesis. The study will employ both qualitative and quantitative research design in which qualitative and quantitative data collection methods will be used. Secondary data will be obtained from systematic review articles from selected prisons and mental health centers. After completing the data collection, the data will be analyzed using SPSS statistical software and presented in charts and graphs.

Target population

The study will focus on the mentally ill inmates who have been incarcerated or detained in the United States of America for violent acts of crime from the year 1990 to 2018. The population will cover both female and male gender and will also be inclusive of juvenile offenders who have been detained due to violent crime. In analyzing the given participants, it will be important to ensure that all participants meet the criteria being defined by research question to ensure the findings of the research are conclusive.

Instruments

Data collection techniques will entail systematic review articles for qualitative data and quantitative data obtained from the records in the selected prisons and mental health centers for the study. Data collection techniques will entail systematic review articles for qualitative data and quantitative data obtained from the records in the selected prisons and mental health centers for the study

The study will analyze the secondary data from systematic review articles and data obtained from the records in the selected prisons and mental health centers. Data will be examined and presented according to the research questions of the study. Data will be collected on mental illness and violent crime, the risk of mental illness to violent crime, and the recidivism rate among mentally ill convicts.

Hypothesis and research questions

In this particular area, the following questions will be answered to understand the relationship between mental illness and violent crime verily.

1. What is the association between mental illness and violent crime?

2. How does having a mental illness increases one’s risk of committing a violent crime?

3. What is the rate of repeat offending among mentally ill who are offenders of violent crime?

Through answering the questions, it will become simplified to create a valid hypothesis that mental illness has a negative relationship with violent crime. This implies that individuals who have mental illness are not culpable to commit a violent crime and finally the rate of recidivism among the mentally ill patients who have committed violent crime is low.

Data collection and analysis

From the data gathered it is clear that mental illness prevalence in the united states of America has continually increased over the years approximately 40 million (18%) of adults in experiencing mental illness in a given year. It is also important to state that an estimated 9 million (3.2%) of adults in the U.S.A had suffered severe mental illness which had prohibited them from undertaking important major day to day activities in their lives (Fazel,2014). It was also gathered that teenagers (13-18 years) had suffered serious mental illness at an estimated 21.3%.

The study also gathered 1.2% of adults residing in the U.S.A lived with schizophrenia with also an approximated 2.5% of adults in the U.S.A lived with the bipolar disorder. Moreover, the study reported that 7% (15.9 million) of adults in the U.S.A had experienced strong depressive episodes in a particular year. An approximated 18% of the adults living I the U.S. A had displayed symptoms of anxiety disorder. It was also established that 10.1 million adults who had mental illness also displayed a major aspect of substance abuse disorder (Bonta,2009).

Regarding the association of mental illness to violent crime, the data indicated that an estimated 20% of inmates in the state correctional facilities and also 22% of local jail inmates had a mental illness. The research also uncovered that 69% of the juvenile detention centers in the united states had reported at least one case of mental lines and moreover at least 19% of the youth in the juvenile detention system had severe mental illness (Maniglio, 2009).

It becomes imperative also to ascertain that a majority of individuals who have mental illness are not likely to become violent than the other people. Violent crimes in individuals with mental illness can only be attributed to 3%-5% of the violence, and in most cases, it is individuals with severe mental illness (Maniglio, 2009)

MENTAL ILLNESS
VIOLENT CRIME	Mean	N	Std. Deviation
10 cases	2.7143	7	.75593
"5 cases'	1.0000	4	.00000
"0 cases"	1.1111	9	.33333
Total	1.6500	20	.93330

Table 1: Mental Illness and Violent Crime

MENTAL ILLNESS
GENDER	Mean	N	Std. Deviation
male	1.7000	10	.94868
female	1.6000	10	.96609
Total	1.6500	20	.93330

Table 2: Mental Illness and Gender

MENTAL ILLNESS
AGE	Mean	N	Std. Deviation
"13-18"	2.1429	7	1.06904
"18-70"	1.3846	13	.76795
Total	1.6500	20	.93330

Findings

The sample group was n=20 and from the analysis violent when compared to mental illness reflected a mean of 2.71 in 10 cases of violent crime 1.0 in 5 cases of violent crime and 1.11 in 0 cases of violent crime. Mental illness depicted a mean of 1.7 in males and 1.6 in females. In the age category, Mental illness revealed a mean of 2.14 in the age group 13-18 years and 1.38 in the age category 18-70 years. According to the graph’s individuals with moderate mental illness and in the age category of 13-18 years had not committed 5 cases of violent crime while those of age category 18-70 had committed five violent crimes. Individuals with severe mental illness and in the age category 13-18 years had committed zero violent crimes which were the same with individuals in the 18-70 age category. Individuals who had no mental illness in both age categories were found to have committed 10 cases of violent crime.

Regarding gender males with moderate mental illness were found to have committed 5 cases of violent crime with the same case occurring in the females. Males with the severe mental illness had committed zero violent crimes which were the same case with women with severe mental illness. Both male and female with no mental illness had committed 10 cases of violent crimes.