Posted: March 12th, 2023

FINAL

 CORRECTIONS ON ASSIGNMENT MINOR FIXATIONS PLEASE READ COMMENTS AND CHECK ERRORS. 

the reading source he is mentioning in the comments are 

 

Bachman, R., & Schutt, R. K. (2017). Fundamentals of research in criminology and criminal justice (4th ed.). Los Angeles, CA: Sage Publications, Inc. ISBN: 9781506359571.

Mosher, C. J., Miethe, T. D., & Hart, T. C. (2011). The mismeasure of crime (2nd ed.). Los Angeles, CA: Sage Publications, Inc. ISBN: 9781412981811.

POLICY ISSUE AND SOLUTION PAPER 1

Mental Health Collaboration Program

Treylesia Alston

Liberty University

CJUS 601

Dr. Sadulski

February 19,2023

POLICY ISSUE AND SOLUTION PAPER 2

Mental Health Collaboration Program

Issue

Mental illnesses, often known as mental health disorders, relate to many ailments that

affect a person’s emotions, thoughts, and behavior. A few examples of mental illnesses include

schizophrenia, depression, eating disorders, and anxiety. Most of the time, medication and talk

therapy (psychotherapy) work together to control symptoms (Lowder,2018). Mental illness has

since emerged as a dominant contributor to deviance in America. Since mentally sick individuals

suffer from impaired thinking, they cannot obey the established standards and rules. This leaves

them in the grips of the criminal justice system. This results in correctional facilities acting as

asylums for mentally sick people.

In the modern world, mental health has emerged as a major problem. The structure of

social institutions reflects the current state of society. Having a large population of mentally ill

individuals in correctional institutions demonstrates how serious the issue of mental illness is

across society. People with mental illnesses have less capacity for rational thought and behavior.

Therefore, mentally ill persons frequently join in doing things erroneously. As the number of

people across society rises, inmates with this ailment will increase. In this sense, solving this

issue is necessary to stop the cycle of crime. Offering efficient mental health therapy is the best

approach to combat mental illness. Although the penitentiary systems have offered mental health

therapy, there has not been enough of it (Lowder,2018). Either they have been employing the

incorrect strategies, or there have not been enough resources available to do this. If mental health

care had been successful, there would be lesser rates of recidivism and crime in general. The

high rate of recidivism is evidence that many mentally ill offenders re-enter society while still

suffering from mental disorders. One of the reasons for crime is mental illness; those who have it

POLICY ISSUE AND SOLUTION PAPER 3

tend to commit crimes again. A program that can guarantee offenders receive the best possible

mental health care can assist in addressing mental illness within the criminal justice system.

Problem

Criminal justice now faces difficult issues related to mental illness. In American

correctional facilities, convicts with mental health issues are disproportionately represented.

Over half of all convicts in American correctional facilities have mental health problems,

according to BJS data (Burkhardt, 2017). These problems differ from prison to prison and from

inmate to inmate. Inmates with mental illnesses vary from state to state as well. Abuse of drugs

or other substances can lead to some mental health problems. The majority of prisoners who

were found guilty of drug-related offenses have this situation. In other instances, stress is the root

of mental health problems. The detainees convicted of capital offenses and those serving longer

terms are more likely to experience this situation. Because the prisoners have not come to terms

with what they committed, it occurs. Some people harbor regrets and live with them (Wrenn,

2018). They get psychologically unwell due to this stress. They reflect on the fact that they have

been removed from both their work and their loved ones. Others reflect on the victim’s family’s

permanent harm that they inflicted. They become sicker due to their overactive minds.

Unfortunately, mental illness has not received enough care in American correctional facilities.

The requirements of those it serves in terms of mental health have been separated by criminal

justice. This is a serious issue since it feeds the crime cycle (Burkhardt, 2017). The reoffending

rate has been rising at an astounding level due to a discrepancy in the mental health treatment

system. The mental health of prisoners deteriorates due to a lack of efficient therapy.

Correctional facilities are a reflection of society; therefore, when society’s mental health declines,

so do the institutions. Various stages of the criminal justice system require mental health care.

Jarrod Sadulski
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Good start in your Introduction. To strengthen your introduction, please provide more of an overview of the main sections of your paper. For example, you could provide more of an assessment of three proposed solutions to this problem.

POLICY ISSUE AND SOLUTION PAPER 4

Significance

Currently, there are more mentally ill individuals in the court system than not. This

suggests that there are three times as many mentally ill people in American incarceration

facilities as in the general population making it a significant issue. This prevalence of mental

illness makes it impossible to advance the main objectives of criminal justice. It is undoubtedly

impossible to alter a mentally sick person’s behavior this is because their way of thinking is

already faulty. To solve the problem, mental health care must be provided to the patient

(Robertson, 2018). In essence, the legal system considers both the victim’s and the defendant’s

situation. The legal system must strike a balance between the demands and interests of each party

if justice is to triumph. When the prisoners are ill, justice cannot be served since they first need

to be treated. The justice system is greatly hampered by mental illness. This is because mentally

ill prisoners put their safety and criminal justice personnel’s security at risk. These prisoners fight

amongst themselves, a situation that has resulted in numerous injuries. This has essentially made

correctional facilities high-risk areas for staff and the public. The effects of this dire situation are

that staff will likely neglect inmates if they are afraid of them. Rehabilitation is, therefore,

ineffective. Therefore, receiving proper medical care is important to ensure improved prison

circumstances. More crucially, as the prevalence of mental disease in jails declines, so will

mental illness the result is there will be a decrease in crime.

Solution

Mental health services integration in correctional facilities is necessary to improve mental

health treatment in criminal justice systems. In this sense, a mental health collaborative program

might answer the issue plaguing the court system (Frailing & Slate, 2018). The involvement of

criminal justice and mental health professionals is required for this initiative, whose main

Jarrod Sadulski
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Good work on your Problem and Significance sections.

POLICY ISSUE AND SOLUTION PAPER 5

purpose is to increase mentally ill prisoners’ access to mental health care. The lack of resources

represents one of the explanations why the court system has not been able to offer appropriate

mental health care due to the high cost of mental health therapy. This explains why there are not

as many psych facilities as other general hospitals despite the need for specialized attention for

patients with mental health issues. Only trained professionals with sufficient resources can

provide this form of care hence the need for the criminal justice to collaborate with numerous

social service providers regarding mental health (Robertson, 2018). A crisis intervention team

could be used to describe this form of program. The team’s participants are the department and

the mental health professional. To achieve its intended goal, the criminal justice division will list

all prisoners suffering from mental illnesses and will then direct them to licensed mental health

professionals. This suggests moving the prisoner to a mental health center instead of keeping

them in prison. The prisoner returns to jail to complete their term once their mental health has

improved or stabilized. Upon completing the rehabilitation program, the prison environment will

unquestionably be secure since prisoners will not hurt one another and will not represent a risk to

the correctional staff. As a result, rehabilitation will proceed successfully (Iglehart,2016). The

prisoners will be in good mental health when they are finally released and will have modified

their behavior. The effects of this approach will be assessed at three different levels: “do nothing,

incremental approach, and full implementation,” resulting in a decrease in the crime rate.

Do Nothing

Impact on Department

If the criminal justice system keeps things as they are, there will continue to be an excess

of mentally ill prisoners. As a result, there will be a higher proportion of patients with mental

illness throughout the department. As a result, the department is less successful in carrying out

POLICY ISSUE AND SOLUTION PAPER 6

its main goal. In essence, each criminal justice department works to further the fundamental aims

of criminal justice (Kelly, Pitman & Streusand, 2018). Trying to rehabilitate mentally ill

prisoners will not be any easier because they are challenging to manage. The criminal justice

system will not deter them; therefore, it will return them to society in their original state of mind.

This disparity will cause the crime rate to stay high, which means more arrests and an increased

likelihood of recidivism (Iglehart, 2016). As a result, the department will see many repeat

offenders, resulting in prison overcrowding. The prisons house more people than they should due

to overcrowding, leading to the deterioration of prison conditions. As a result, if the department

does not address the issue, it will eventually come back to bite it. It will be challenging to control

the high pressure that it will endure.

Impact on Budget

Mental illness is as severe as any other disease and will worsen the inmate’s health if no

mental health care is provided. The result will be many health issues for the prisoners. In

essence, there is a connection between physical and mental wellness (Bandara, 2018). This

primarily occurs due to mental illness patients’ disregard for good hygiene and health habits,

which means other health requirements will manifest if proper mental health therapy is not

provided. The inmate’s new home is the prison which means that the prison must provide for all

convicts’ needs, from food to psychological needs. The department will pay considerable costs

for treating the detainees because there would be many unwell prisoners due to inadequate

mental health care. As a result, the department will spend its funding in another, less effective

manner rather than implementing a policy to tackle the problem. Unfortunately, owing to their

mental condition, convicts’ health requirements will not be sufficiently met (Kelly, Pitman &

POLICY ISSUE AND SOLUTION PAPER 7

Streusand,2018). Most of the department’s funds will typically be used to treat the prisoners, a

huge cost to the correctional facilities.

Impact on Stakeholders

Stakeholders in the justice system include the government, staff, citizens, and greater

society. They are all impacted by any situation within this area, whether for better or worse,

directly or indirectly. Public safety would decline if the new policy were implemented with a do-

nothing attitude because the prisoners’ mental health would only worsen (Bandara, 2018). In

essence, mentally ill prisoners are quite violent; they regularly abuse staff, and other prisoners,

which results in a violent atmosphere within the prison complex since both personnel and

prisoners will be at risk. The prisoners will be more challenging to manage due to the fear of

victimization among the correctional staff.

Additionally, the prison staff’s opinion of the convicts will likely shift since they will

view them as threats. This may lead to abuse of prisoners by prison staff, worsening prison stay,

and some prisoners might even attempt escape while others may contemplate suicide. The

burden would also fall on society’s stakeholders in criminal justice. First off, prisoners with

mental illnesses will be released back into society. As a result, they represent a risk to society

since they will keep acting violently and victimizing individuals. Second, citizens will bear the

cost of paying taxes since they will pay higher taxes to maintain the costly criminal justice

system. There is no need for such a high expenditure. In order to give criminal justice agencies

greater funding, the government is also compelled to prioritize its budget.

POLICY ISSUE AND SOLUTION PAPER 8

Incremental Approach

Impact on Department

Mentally ill prisoners can be very challenging to manage. The department occasionally

needs to add personnel to accomplish this, even though there is no certainty that the department

will succeed in meeting its goals. The benefits of the department’s mental health collaboration

initiative will take longer if implemented gradually. Although this course of action is preferable

to taking no action, the department will utilize additional resources. An ongoing strategy

guarantees a permanent solution to a problem. The department can then concentrate on a

different problem, which means that the department’s efficiency will increase, and the number of

new prisoners eventually declines (Howell, Wang & Winkelman, 2019). This occurs due to

decreased recidivism among released prisoners since most will have completed their

rehabilitation. This unquestionably illustrates the department’s steady success in fulfilling its

main objectives (Ali, Teich & Mutter, 2018).

Impact on Budget

The cost of mental health therapy is high, which means that the execution of the mental

health collaboration initiative is expensive, which calls for a change in the department’s budget

requirements. To complete this program, the department will need to expand its budgetary

allotments (Ali, Teich & Mutter, 2018). However, a larger budget will not be needed because the

program implementation costs will be divided into numerous phases. The initial and second

stages will require more funding than the subsequent phases due to the increased need to set the

implementation rate at the earliest stages. In these phases, collaboration with mental health

professionals is carried out (Pinals et al., 2019). Dealing with prisoners becomes more at ease

POLICY ISSUE AND SOLUTION PAPER 9

as implementation progresses; as a result, prison operations become less expensive, and

the money set aside for prison upkeep will decrease. The department must therefore, adopt an

incremental strategy. More importantly, there will be fewer mentally ill prisoners in these phases.

This suggests that the department’s budget will be the most cost-effective.

Impact on Stakeholders

Public safety will be progressive when the program is implemented progressively. It will

take a while for the increased public safety to be evident since the public will not notice any

difference throughout the program’s first two years, and there is a risk of the freed prisoners

committing crimes again (Pinals et al., 2019). However, after two years, public safety will be

impressive since reoffending rates will drop and arrests will decline under this criminal justice

system, resulting in fewer people behind bars. The prison population will become much smaller

as implementation nears its conclusion. In this sense, the government will cut the amount of

money it spends on prison and instead direct it toward other necessities resulting in the lessening

of the tax burden (Nam, Matejkowski & Lee, 2016). More importantly, the department workers

will feel safer, resulting in reduced turnover rates, which were high since most staff left their jobs

because they feared being victimized.

Full Implementation

Impact on Department

At full implementation, the program’s advantages will be most fully realized. In general,

comprehensive implementation requires a lot of time and resources but has a high return. To

accomplish this, the department must devote more time, money, and resources (both human and

non-human), which may result in short-term strain (Howell, Wang & Winkelman, 2019).

Consequently, the department’s effect will consist of a substantial number of meetings, a lot of

Jarrod Sadulski
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Good work on these solutions!

POLICY ISSUE AND SOLUTION PAPER
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employee commitment, hiring new staff, and inadequate resources. This occurs because most

resources are devoted to supporting the project’s final implementation. The department will need

more resources in other sectors, and employees must reduce operational costs to achieve this.

This entails halting some departmental activities that could be more important for the time being.

The workload for the department will diminish after complete adoption, and there will be a

decrease in the number of prisoners entering the prison. As a result, the exhaustion that the

employees previously experienced will lessen, and the safety of the department’s employees will

increase. A comparable approach has been fully implemented in California’s penal system; the

department now boasts that its employees operate in the safest environment possible because the

prisoners are not aggressive (Ali, Teich & Mutter, 2018). The program transports the mentally ill

to specialized hospitals, and once they recover, they are returned to prison, where they are

sheltered.

Impact on Budget

The institution’s spending will increase and likely become the most expensive budget it

has ever had. Collaboration suggests that both parties are making a major contribution to a

project. The party with the greatest need, however, contributes more which means that the

organization in desperate need of the program will contribute more (Lamberti, 2016). Most

organizations that the facilities are working with undoubtedly lack the necessary tools to provide

successful mental health services, making a majority of them offer staff instead. In essence, full

implementation denotes the beginning of collaboration and treatment. As a result, the institution

must guarantee that the facilities are in excellent working order hence the organization should

request government funding to cover these finance requirements and explore public grants and

donations (Lamberti, 2016). Individuals suffering from trauma or mental problems will

Jarrod Sadulski
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Additional in-text references are needed throughout your paper from paraphrased research to support your main points.

Jarrod Sadulski
143770000000363800

POLICY ISSUE AND SOLUTION PAPER
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undoubtedly be prepared to contribute, which will see the burden of institutions burden lessened,

and the institution’s budget will eventually start to decrease. The number of mental health cases

will reduce after mental treatment is started, and the number of prisoners with mental illnesses

will decline over time, which means that maintaining the prisons will become less expensive.

Impact on Stakeholders

All parties involved in the initiative will feel relieved after it has been fully implemented.

Public safety will increase due to the decline in mental illness cases among the public and

prisoners. Crime will decrease since it is the main cause of the high recidivism and crime rates.

People can move freely without worrying about harm (Nam, Matejkowski & Lee, 2016). Second,

the strain of making substantial tax payments will diminish; in essence, the public bears the

burden when prisons accommodate many inmates and their expenses rise above average. The

expense of running prisons will decrease after the program is fully completed, meaning it will

become easier to pay taxes. Professionals in the criminal justice system will also find it easier to

execute their duties since their jobs have become less cumbersome due to the low levels of

mentally ill people entering the criminal justice system.

Christian Worldview

The mental health collaboration program aims to address the vulnerability paradox in

society. According to statistics, those with social and economic disadvantages make up most of

those with mental illness. These individuals’ circumstances do exacerbate their mental illness.

When he first began his Galilean ministry, he declared that his goals were to spread the good

news to the underprivileged, secure the release of hostages, and assist the oppressed (Luke 4:18).

Of course, people with mental illnesses fall into almost all of these groups. From a Christian

perspective, mental health initiatives advance Jesus’ goal of providing comfort to people.

POLICY ISSUE AND SOLUTION PAPER
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Mentally ill individuals deal with issues they cannot comprehend. The initiatives also aim to

equalize people. Mentally unwell people are not productive hence they tend to be socially and

economically ostracized. Jesus took care of those with mental issues, “So his fame spread

throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and

pains, those oppressed by demons, epileptics, and paralytics, and he healed them. (Matthew

4:24).” Luke 4:33-37 “In the synagogue there was a man possessed by a demon, an impure

spirit. He cried out at the top of his voice, “Go away! What do you want with us, Jesus of

Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!”“Be

quiet!” Jesus said sternly. “Come out of him!” Then the demon threw the man down before them

all and came out without injuring him.” Jesus exorcised a demon-possessed person throughout

his healing work, he encouraged this man to return to his senses when he came across him,

indicating that God desires individuals to have sound minds. Programs that treat mental illness

are following God’s will. The department ought to forward with the implementation of the

program.

Conclusion

Rehabilitating and punishing prisoners with severe mental illnesses is ineffective. Every

day, more prisoners are being admitted to prison with similar conditions. Crime and recidivism

rates have been rising at the same time. Taxes are used to shift this responsibility onto the

general populace. In order to do this, it is not necessary to continue using a strategy that is so

expensive but has little impact. Inmates who are mentally ill should be transferred from the

typical correctional environment to a setting that emphasizes mental health care. Collaboration

between correctional facilities and those who provide mental health services can accomplish this.

This method will result in better justice outcomes. The criminal justice community must

POLICY ISSUE AND SOLUTION PAPER
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collaborate for this initiative to be successful. The department, the budget, and the stakeholders

will feel different effects of this program’s implementation. Both partial and incremental

implementation strategies will be used. The ideal is full implementation. The organization may

invest a significant amount of time and resources in the short term but will gain a lot in the long

term. While an incremental strategy is preferable, the program’s implementation will take a long

time. This suggests that it can take the organization a while before it begins to reap the rewards.

The company will therefore have to deal with the issue for a very long period. The mental health

collaboration program is a great initiative from a Christian perspective.

References

Ali, M.M.,Teich, J., & Mutter, R. (2018). Perceived Unmet Mental Health Treatment Need

Among Adults with Criminal Justice System Involvement. Journal of Health Care for the

Poor and Underserved, 29(1), 214–227.

Bandara, D. (2018). Mental Health Providers’ Attitudes About Criminal Justice–Involved Clients

With Serious Mental Illness. Psychiatric Services, 69(4), 472–475.

Burkhardt, A. (2017). University Researcher and Law Enforcement Collaboration: Lessons From

a Study of Justice-Involved Persons With Suspected Mental Illness. International Journal

of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 61(5), 508–525.

Frailing, K., & Slate, R. (2018). Criminalization of mental illness reader. Carolina Academic

Press.

Holy Bible.

Jarrod Sadulski
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Overall, great work!

Jarrod Sadulski
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Please note that only the first word and any pronouns should be capitalized in our reference titles, which is reflected on the rubric. Thanks! For more information on APA formatting, please feel free to review: http://www.apastyle.org/apa-style-help.aspx

POLICY ISSUE AND SOLUTION PAPER
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Howell, B. A., Wang, E. A., & Winkelman, T. (2019). Mental Health Treatment Among

Individuals Involved in the Criminal Justice System After Implementation of the

Affordable Care Act. Psychiatric Services, 70(9), 765–771.

Iglehart, J. (2016). Decriminalizing Mental Illness — The Miami Model. The New England

Journal of Medicine, 374(18), 1701–1703.

Kelly, W., Pitman, R., & Streusand, W. (2018). From retribution to public safety : disruptive

innovation of American criminal justice . Rowman & Littlefield.

Lamberti, J. (2016). Preventing Criminal Recidivism Through Mental Health and Criminal

Justice Collaboration. Psychiatric Services, 67(11), 1206–1212.

Lowder, R. (2018). Effectiveness of Mental Health Courts in Reducing Recidivism: A Meta-

Analysis. Psychiatric Services, 69(1), 15–22.

Nam, E., Matejkowski, J., & Lee, S. (2016). Criminal Justice Contact and Treatment Utilization

Among People With Mental Illness and Substance Use Disorders. Psychiatric Services,

67(10), 1149–1151.

Pinals, D.A., Gaba, A., Clary, K.M., Barber, J., Reiss, J., & Smelson, D. (2019). Implementation

of MISSION–Criminal Justice in a Treatment Court: Preliminary Outcomes Among

Individuals With Co-occurring Disorders. Psychiatric Services, 70(11), 1044–1048.

Robertson, E. (2018). Medication-Assisted Treatment for Alcohol-Dependent Adults With

Serious Mental Illness and Criminal Justice Involvement: Effects on Treatment

Utilization and Outcomes. American Journal of Psychiatry, 175(7), 665–673.

Wrenn, M. (2018). The Fierce Urgency of Now: Improving Outcomes for Justice-Involved

People With Serious Mental Illness and Substance Misuse. Psychiatric Services, 69(7),

829–831.

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