Can criminal behaviour be treated?

Mertha Mo Nyamande

MENTAL health and crime fall under forensic psychology and psychiatry.

This is where specially trained clinicians make assessments to establish an individual’s state of mind at the time the crime was committed, often referred to as the index offence.

For most crimes, when assessed closely, it is often established that the offences were committed when the cognitions of the individual were altered by several factors: mental illness, personality disorder or psychopathy, at times driven by paranoid thinking.

Whenever a crime is committed, it is usually assumed that the offender has full mental capacity and, therefore, considered bad. Steps need to be taken to deter the individual from committing crime again, through treatment and/or punishment for the offence.

Studies recommend moving away from punitive measures in favour of understanding what drives the individual to commit the crime and rectify the situation in this regard.

All individuals suspected of committing crimes would, therefore, require specialist assessments in safe and secure environments before this can be established. Psychological assessments are also necessary to provide a more in-depth understanding of the person and their crime (crime scene and offender profiling).

Where the individual has committed an offence under temporary mental incapacitation, treatment or other corrective measures may need to be facilitated first for the individual to be fit and well to stand trial.

If the assessments show lack of capacity before or during the act, an indefinite time may be granted in order to fully understand the nature and degree of the illness or disorder before treatment.

It is important for societies to understand that crimes and punishments are not as simple as the emotional reasoning that a person has been killed, and, therefore, the offence should attract a prison sentence.

We really cannot just surrender our best talents and lives to satanism, evil spirits and witchcraft, for there is often a fine line between madness and genius.

Notable inventors were once detained in mental asylums because their talents were marginalised and criminalised because of poor understanding and emotional reasoning, which often compromised human developments. Our communities are quick to label such behaviours as bad and selfish, as well as a result of evil spirits, satanism or witchcraft. They overlook patterns of behaviour that may exist or predispositions causing the vulnerability.

It often takes special circumstances for a human being to kill or maim another, regardless of the circumstances. All crimes need to be understood and intent established before an offender is judged, punished or corrected, in any rehabilitative ways.

However, criminology considers crime as a functional aspect of society.

Without crime, there would be no need for courts, judges, lawyers, police, prisons and, to some extent, doctors, forensic accountants, banks and other security apparatus.

It then becomes complex how we may neglect certain elements of society that maintain this criminal element functional and effective, in particular mental health.

Altered mental states become corresponding behaviours likely to be at odds with various laws in our governed systems.

Paranoia — strongly associated with mental health issues, including substance misuse — fuels crime in most spheres, with greed and poor self-esteem issues not far behind.

As charity begins at home, could families be the breeding ground for crime?

Poor provisions for family support, which is the core element of society, create a wide range of criminal behaviours, including violence, gender-based violence, theft and prostitution.

As a society, we need to open more platforms to have critical conversations that challenge the things we regard as religious, cultural or traditional, which, in themselves, contribute to the problems that amount to criminal behaviours.

More playgrounds for children and green spaces, as well as community spaces, are also essential to establish cohesion, alongside community psychologist interventions. It becomes difficult to unite a nation when there are little to no provisions for local unification. All criminal cases, particularly where life or limb has been lost, should first be assessed to ascertain the “corpus mentis” of the offender before the case can be referred for prosecution, as a standard.

It is often illness, disorder or psychopathy, never just bad. Humans are not made that way. Criminal behaviours may simply be a matter of being stuck in developmental or other life stages, requiring exploration and remedy or treatment.

Reach out. We can help.

Mertha Mo Nyamande is a psychotherapist. He can be contacted on: [email protected] or @ www.i-wellbeing.weebly.com