Personality, Mental Illness, and Substance Abuse—Psychological Theories of Criminal Behavior

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 How could the mental disorder you selected contribute to criminal behavior? Use specific examples to illustrate your response.

 Under what circumstances should offenders with mental illness be arrested? If arrest is not a viable option, what alternatives could law enforcement officers use to prevent future criminal behavior?

 How do the following psychological factors account for the criminal behavior in the case study?

o Mental disorders  Psychopathy and other personality disorders  Major mental disorders characterized by mood

disturbances and periods of psychosis o Substance abuse

 How do the social, behavioral, and cognitive factors you identified over the past 2 weeks interact with the psychological factors listed above to create a cumulative effect on the criminal behavior in the case study?

 Week Three Discussion: Mentally Ill Offenders and the Criminal Justice System (AUD)

 Alcoholism or Alcohol use disorder is classified in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5th edition (DSM-5) as a substance abuse disorder featuring both physical and mental symptoms (National Institute on Health, n.d.).

Hello Everyone,

For this discussion, the first thing that came to mind was how many people I have known throughout the years that have gone to jail for many different types of crimes who were under the influence of alcohol when they were arrested. This struck my curiosity on the subject; how many offenders really do suffer from Alcoholism or the medical term; Alcohol use disorder (AUD)?

How does AUD Contribute to Criminal Behavior?

According to the Alcohol Rehab Guide, alcohol plays a large role in crimes and violence in the U.S. and statistics suggest that prolonged drinking or binge drinking increases a person’s ability to commit violent crimes. Alcohol-related violence and crime rates are on the rise across the nation. A reason for this is, excessive drinking has the potential to reduce inhibitions, impair the judgment of an individual, and increase the likelihood of violent actions. About 40 percent of inmates that are incarcerated for violent offenses were under the influence of alcohol during the time they committed the crime (Galbicsek, 2020). To name a few:

 40 percent of convicted for homicide  Four out of every ten child abusers  27 percent of aggravated assaults  37 percent of sexual assaults and rapes  15 percent of armed robberies

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How to Prevent Future Criminal Behavior & Should an Arrest Be Made or is There an Alternative?

The sad reality is crimes committed under the influence of alcohol should not be treated like other offenders with a mental illness. AUD is considered a brain condition that someone is born with, meaning there are precondition to the addiction, and it is not easy for them to not take that drink that lowers their inhibitions. This does mean they should not be a consequence to their illegal and often violent behavior. Some solutions for this would be if someone has repetitive DUI’s the courts could order alcohol treatment as part of their punishment. Other things that can be addressed are the way law enforcement handles situations where someone is clearly drunk.

 What years of alcohol abuse does to the brain is, it assaults the forebrain which controls coordination and decision making, and destroys the midbrain causing you to lose control of your emotions and increases a chance of blackouts (Doyne, 2011),

Unlike other mental disorders AUD is not always noticed by defense attorneys. This makes evaluating them mentally never even being addressed or things like competency at the time of the crime or arrest taken into consideration. In relation to defendants who are intellectually impaired, competency is an important issue. People with mental retardation [sic] also may not display obvious signs of impaired comprehension or thinking, unlike psychotic offenders, attorneys may be less able to distinguish those in need of an AC (adjudicative competence) test. There is a legal principle that a defendant be able to comprehend the proceedings and to support the attorney in preparing a case is competent to stand trial (Bartol & Bartol, 2017). With regards to people who were under the influence of alcohol at the time of their crime more psychological evaluations need to be done during trial for these offenders.

References Bartol, C. R., & Bartol, A. M. (2017). Criminal behavior: A psychological approach (11th ed.). (Ch.8). (pp. 214-236). Boston, MA: Pearson

Doyne, L., B. (2011, December 29). The immoral alcoholic. Retrieved from http://immortalalcoholic.blogspot.com/2011_12_1_archive.html

Galbicsek, C. (2020, October 21). Alcohol-related crimes. Retrieved from https://www.alcoholrehabguide.org/alcohol/crimes/#:~:text=%20Types%20of%20Crimes %20Associated%20With%20Alcohol%20,abuse%20is%20irritability%20and%20extreme %20mood...%20More%20

National Institute on Health. (n.d.). Understanding alcohol use disorder. Retrieved from https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/brochures-and-fact-sheets/understanding-alcohol-use- disorder