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Criminal Prosecution of the Mentally Disordered

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 July 2024

Ellen Hochstedler
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Abstract

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This study examines the interim and final dispositions of 379 criminal cases involving mentally disordered defendants. The findings indicate that a history of mental health problems tends to elicit a lenient penal sanction, even in the face of a criminal history. Furthermore, these findings show that the court used its authority to impose mental health treatment on criminal defendants as often as it imposed punishment.

Type
Research Note
Information
Law & Society Review , Volume 20 , Issue 2 , 1986 , pp. 279 - 292
Copyright
Copyright © 1986 by The Law and Society Association

Footnotes

An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Annual Meeting of the Law and Society Association, San Diego, California, June 7, 1985.

I want to thank the Milwaukee Foundation for financial support of this study, the Wisconsin Correctional Service for cooperation and permission to use agency records, and Charles Worzella of the Wisconsin Correctional Service for his helpful orientation to the data. I am most grateful to Jerelyn Johnson, the graduate student who collected all the data used in this study, working as a volunteer before financial support for the project was found. Opinions expressed in this paper are those of the author and do not reflect the official or unofficial views of the Milwaukee Foundation, the Wisconsin Correctional Service, or the Milwaukee Office of District Attorney.

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