CRM 471 Mental Health and the Criminal Justice System
Empirical evidence supports the notion that there are a disproportionate number of individuals
with serious mental illness (e.g. schizophrenia, bipolar disorder) who are involved in the criminal
justice system. The National Alliance on Mental Illness estimates that in the state of Connecticut,
approximately 16% of the justice-involved population is diagnosed with a serious mental illness
(NAMI, 2016). Such justice involvement includes interaction with and subsequent arrest by law
enforcement, continued court involvement, lengthy periods of incarceration, and/or state
supervision. Therefore, this course will focus on the manner in which individuals with serious
mental illness are processed within the criminal justice system. Ultimately, the primary goal of
the proposed course is for students to develop the requisite skills to compare and contrast the
realities of mental illness and co-occurring disorders to typical criminal justice system responses.