There are many causes of criminal behavior among men. Some of the causes can either be attributed to societal influences while some are internal. Among the causes of criminal behavior in men has been attributed to mental illnesses. Mental illnesses have been particularly been blames for criminal behavior pertaining to violence. Violence has always been attributed to mental problems associated with increased levels of anxiety and anger management problems. Even though some of the criminal behavior in men is linked to mental illness, other causes such as drug abuse might also influence men in taking part in criminal activity. This paper studies the connection between mental illnesses and criminal behavior in men.
Mental illnesses evidently affect the working of the brain, which may also affect a person’s ability to control himself. Mental illnesses have been known to affect the way a person behaves and their relations to other people in the society. The most imminent aspect that mental illness affects in men is the ability to have self-control and self-evaluation (Barker et al., 2007).. Neurocognitive mechanisms influence the developmental trajectories of antisocial behaviors such as theft and physical violence among adolescents and the consequent transition into adulthood. Neurocognitive impairments are executive in function and verbal IQ that influence behavior conduct. Self-regulation actions in a person entail those actions that relate to emotions, actions, and thoughts ( Barker et al., 2007). These actions are dependent on the neural systems and prefrontal cortex. These are the parts of the brain, which are also affected with anxiety disorders and Schizophrenia and may lead to violent behavior.
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Verbal IQ entails the development of verbal ability, which relates to enhancing self-control via the use of communication skills which results from cognitive orientation. There are various circumstances, which may lead to antisocial behavior such as theft and violence. A delay in the gratification and communication skills is an anomaly, which may lead to violence (Barker et al., 2007). A positive correlation between the Verbal IQ and executive is likely to lead to theft.
From the above it is evident that psychiatric disorder is directly liked to criminal behavior if not properly handled in the society. Psychiatric disorders just like any other illnesses often come with comorbid conditions such as depression and anxiety. For people with psychiatric disorders it is very likely that they may be depressed or have anxiety at one time in their lives. In a study carried out in South Korea it was found out that, conduct disorders are the most common psychiatric disorders among detainees ( Choi et al, 2017). These detainees also have higher chances of starting violence within the detainment facilities. However, most of the detainees do not end up in detainment because of a straightforward social life. Evidently, most psychiatric disorders are caused by people’s inability to deal with certain bad experiences in life. As such, most detainees who have psychiatric disorder, especially conduct disorder have been victims of unfortunate events such as sexual abuse, physical violence and emotional abuse at the early stages of their life. A good number of people who grow up with psychiatric disorder shave been victims of child abuse. In the South Korean facilities most of the detainees are male youths who are likely to grow up into adulthood with this disorder due to society’s tendency to overlook the situations (Choi et al, 2017). . The factors combined with the conduct disorders influences their behaviors to exhibit behavioral violence through complaints breaking of rules and aggression. When comparing detainees with conduct disorders to those without the disorders it is patent that those affected by the disorders conduct more violent crimes.
Detention centers are therefore a hub for the perpetration of conduct disorder. Additionally the detention facilities are likely to provide an environment that would lead to more violence and abuse on victims leading to comorbid conditions associated with psychiatric disorder. For a young person who has been castrated it is likely that they may become depressed during their first stay in prisons. The comorbid conditions coupled with the psychiatric disorders will evidently lead to more criminal activity upon leaving the detention facility ( Lindberg et al, 2009). In addition, in case the victims stay in prison for a long time they become institutionalized and internalize the violent behavior as part of their personality. It is hard for such people to go back in the society and relate well with other people. For that reason, it is highly imperative that detention facilities consider diagnosis and providing intervention measures to help people with psychiatric disorders in detention facilities. Consequently, the intervention measures would reduce the levels of crime associated with mental disorders in the society.
Common phenomenon that is always slinked to violence in the community has been psychopathy. People are often quick to identify psychopaths and associate them with violent or likelihood of criminal activities. While it may be true that psychopathy may lead to criminal behavior, these people need help more than they need stigmatization from the community. A study carried out of psychopathic traits revealed that men and young boys with the traits have antisocial behaviors; they are deviant and live a lifestyle that is related to mental illness. Evidently, homicidal boys and men are likely to have psychopathic traits. This therefor proves that Psychopathy is directly linked to crime and violence.
Evidently, societal perceptions crime and mental illnesses are also interconnected. In the society there are certain perceptions and believes that make it hard for mental illnesses to be diagnosed or even for intervention measures to be made to reduce the prevalence of mental illnesses. Masculinity for instance has always been linked with violent behavior. Men are always expected to be aggressive and violent whereby not being violent enough means that a man is not masculine enough. This has made men to be prone to criminal behavior in an attempt to embrace masculinity. Problem only arises when people are unable to distinguish what is an accepted level of violent behaviors in men and what calls of concern and needs treatment. Evidently thee is a relationship between acceptance of mental illness and how it relates to criminal activity
According to a study on mental illnesses masculinity and crime in the society, it proved that men fail to accept and acknowledge the effects of mental disorders in their lives, which propel them to crime. The research is significant to the mental illness and criminal behavior in men as it provides the societal background of crimes committed by men in society and how failure to acknowledge and accept the effects of mental illness among men in society continues to hinder and constrain approaches to crime alleviation based on the traditional view of masculinity. Therefore, the society needs a change in culture and perception of men so that it may be possible to make clear intervention measures to address the problem. While it may be true that there are few if any measure to diagnose mental illnesses among men with violent and criminal behaviors, the process of diagnosing men with criminal behaviors is even harder when they do not believe in such a thing as mental illnesses causing crime or acknowledge the likelihood of them being mentally ill.
Evidently, there are various criminal activities and various menial conditions that are associated with crime. There is a relationship between violent crimes and mental illnesses such as mental retardation, substance-related disorders, personality disorders mental disorders, conduct disorders and childhood maltreatment in the early stages of life, in adolescence, which are associated with criminal convictions in the future.
There is correlation between psychiatric and neurological disorders and the risk of convictions for men in violent crimes. In the complexity of determining the relationship between mental illness and violence, a high correlation that leads to mental illness are the major factors in prediction and conviction of men for committing violent crimes. Drug related mental illnesses have often been known to lead to violence more than theft. The abuse of alcohol for instance causes impaired judgments among the users, which may lead to them engaging in violent activities. The same is attributed to other drug related mental disorder to some extent drug related illnesses may lead to theft due to the tendency of drugs impairing judgment and giving the users false confidence.
Drugs have also lead to an increase in theft cases due to their addiction properties. Addiction among drug users is almost one of the main causes of robbery with violence and other types of petty theft cases. The criminal activity results from the fact that many drug addicts are poor with no means of earning income. Since their addiction pushes them to taking more drugs, they have to rely on petty theft of robbery to get a means of acquiring more drugs.
Psychiatric disorders on the other hand affect the personality development of the men it affects. Apparently, men are expected to develop a personality that entails protection with minimal chances of violence. In psychiatric disorder, men seemingly become dependent on violence. This makes violence to be one of their personality traits. This leads to the repetition of violent activities. The antisocial behaviors may start manifesting themselves to little boys who will then grow up o have such behaviors as part of what makes them who they are. Protective factors in individuals, families, communities, and society contribute to the increase in criminal activities associated with mental illnesses in men. In study about the protective factors and the prevalence of violent criminal activity, the findings are important to the topic of mental illness and criminal behavior in men by evaluating the contributing protective factors.
Mentally challenged individuals in society especially men with psychotic behavioral disorders and abuse drugs such as alcohol exhibit higher risks of engaging in violent crimes. This makes mental illnesses one of the tools that can be used to determine criminal behavior or the prevalence of violence in a community. Nevertheless, the community should not assume that mental illness is the main cause of criminal behavior in the community ( Thornton et al, 2017). In many communities especially where violence is prone, the only factor that is attributed to the behavior is usually mental illness. However, other factors may lead to crime in the community such as poverty. Poverty has ben known to cause crime since man, as a living thing is known to always look for methods to survive in bad situations. In the case of poverty and joblessness, man may resort to depend on crime as a means of surviving.
Waterman, & Brand, (2017) carry out a study with the aims of exposing the harmful stereotypes of the relationship between mental health and violent behavior through a concentration on dissociative behaviors on violent crimes. The study reveals research findings on the greater psychopathology among violent offenders. They engaged in the evaluation of crimes to prove that offenders with mental illnesses especially those convicted of homicide crimes are associated with high rates of violence perpetration and victimization. The results showed a low involvement of the criminal justice system in the resolution of crimes committed by mentally ill patients and low association of dissociative disorders to violent crimes. The authors’ analysis of a sample of individuals with dissociative disorders and the consequent establishment of the low association with crime is significant for extensive research. It is specifically essential in studying mental illness and criminal behavior through its provision of information on extensive mental disorders such as he dissociative disorders and their impact on criminal activities in society.
From the above, it is clear that mental illnesses have a direct relationship to crime and the prevalence of crime in the society. In a society that has a large population suffering from mental illnesses, the levels of crime will be significantly high. Though mental illness may cause crime, the society should not assume that mental illnesses are the main causes of crime in the society. There are other cause of crime in the society such as poverty, drug abuse, and increased levels of joblessness. Man drive to survive always leads them to depend on deviant means of survival. The society has contributed to the inability to conduct diagnosis and intervene on mental illnesses due to the perception on crime and masculinity. Traditionally masculinity is often associated with violence and crime. Such a factor makes it hard for diagnosis and even hard for prevention since the victims do not believe that they are suffering from a mental condition.
References
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