Mental Health Issues and Criminal Acts

For this Performance Task Assessment, you analyze case studies that feature issues related to mental health and crime.

Professional Skills: Written Communication is assessed in this Competency.

Before submitting your Assessment, carefully review the rubric. This is the same rubric the assessor will use to evaluate your submission and it provides detailed criteria describing how to achieve or master the Competency. Many students find that understanding the requirements of the Assessment and the rubric criteria help them direct their focus and use their time most productively.

Mental Health Issues and Criminal Acts

For this assessment, you analyze case studies that feature issues related to mental health and crime. Then, in 1,500–2,000 words, respond to the following:

Explain how to distinguish between mental illness and criminality, using examples from the case studies to illustrate the difference.
Explain how the criminal justice system has typically or “traditionally” addressed an offender who has committed a crime due to a mental health issue, using examples from the case studies to illustrate the difference.
Explain how the contemporary criminal justice system addresses an offender who commits a crime due to a mental health issue, using examples from the case studies to illustrate your response. For example, address the following issues:
How should the responding officer proceed?
How should this person be processed through the criminal justice system?
What are the appropriate charges, if any?
How should the judge at the arraignment hearing proceed?
Explain whether you agree or disagree with the following statement: The criminal justice system has an ethical obligation to rehabilitate or treat offenders suffering from mental illness.
What is the role of the criminal justice system regarding these types of incidents?