homelessness and deinstitutionalization
Deinstitutionalization- a term popularized in the mid fifties to early seventies, was an experiment involving the release of some 830,000 mental patients. By reducing state mental hospitals by 60%, this ideology was found very appealing by Liberals due to mental patients receiving their freedom (Website 1). It was also liked by conservatives because of the large amount of money that would be saved by cutting the mental health budget. A very debatable question arises when analyzing this, and the upsurge of homelessness. Is the increase of homelessness due to deinstitutionalization? I believe that homelessness is not a result of deinstitutionalization, but rather in the way it has been implemented. Approximately 20-25% of the single adult homeless population suffers from some form of severe and persistent mental illness (Website 2). According to the Federal Task Force on Homelessness and Severe Mental Illness, only 5-7% of the mentally ill homeless need to be institutionalized (Website 2). A majority of mentally ill can live within the community with the appropriate supportive housing options (Website 2). That is where the problem lies. The mentally ill individuals, who have been dependent on all aspects of an institution
Once this became apparent, community mental health centers were very resistant to providing services for them. He rejected the M'Naghten Rule and stated that the accused is no criminally responsible if the unlawful act was the product of mental disease of defect. In other words insanity and mental illness are not synonymous. These killings are about 5% of all homicides nationwide, and help show once again how important it is to follow all the steps of deinstitutionalization. I have found a lot of information about community shelters and treatment centers, but after all this research it doesn't sound like their doing their job very well or they don't have the funds to do so. Once released from an institution a mentally ill person, without the support of the community and much needed medication, might find themselves feeling very scared and threatened by interactions with the community. Larry is now on death row and even after records were dug up showing five other biological relatives with this same disease he will not be given a sanity hearing. This case is a prime example of deinstituitionalization because after his diagnosis he kept being turned away because he wasn't violent and the hospital needed a bed (Website 6). In Texas, there is a man on death row who had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia at the age of 21. Only some mental illness constitutes insanity. Due to these factors above, there a many problems that arise by the existence of the insanity defense.
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,
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Acceptance Essays
