Weekly discussion post topic

Forensics

As Bartol & Bartol (2008) point out, criminal behavior must be distinguished from criminogenic psychopathologies. Anti-social personality disorder, for example, is an official diagnosis listed in the tome DSM-IV, used as the benchmark for all psychological diagnoses. A person who is diagnosed with anti-social personality disorder does not automatically mean that the person has committed a crime, but this psychological classification does offer explanations for the structural issues in the person's psyche that might create tendencies to commit acts that are against the law.

There are, however, other issues at stake when trying to link criminal behavior with psychological disorders. Many acts labeled as criminal are not technically immoral acts and should not be classified as either criminal or pathological. For example, the use of recreational drugs or alcohol is not an immoral act per se, but cannabis use is classified as a criminal behavior in most parts of the United States. When a person is caught using drugs, he or she could face criminal charges. This would mean labeling the individual as a criminal; and in some cases, the individual could also be diagnosed with psychological disorders linked to substance use and abuse even when the person might just have been having a good time.

The link between genuine substance abuse issues and mental illness is covered in the DSM-IV, however, because substance abuse can be considered a defining symptom of mental illnesses such as clinical depression (Bartol & Bartol, 2008). The link between criminal behavior and substance abuse, alcoholism, and clinical problems like depression has also been well documented. As the National Criminal Justice Reference Service (n.d.) points out, female inmates offer some clues to the link between criminality and mental illness. Many of the women who are in prison have been victims of trauma and abuse and are frequently diagnosed with mental illnesses that could be linked with their behavioral problems.

However, it is uncertain whether substance abuse is a cause of crime, or if an underlying personality disorder or mental illness precipitates both the crime and the substance abuse (Bartol & Bartol, 2008). Thus, the link between mental disorders and criminal behaviors is more complex than the simplistic question would assume. If the question must be answered with a clear yes or no, then the answer would be no: criminal behavior is not in and of itself a mental disorder. Criminal behavior can be used as a warning sign to test for mental disorders, and then that would allow psychologists to treat the underlying cause of the criminal behavior. As Cauffman (2008) puts it, "effective prevention efforts should target the mental health needs of at-risk females before they lead to chronic behavior problems," (p. 119).