Crime and the Mentally Ill

If you have watched the news or read the newspaper lately, you are aware that violence is becoming a part of every day life. You may have also noticed that there has been a lot of focus on linking violence with mental illness. Are mental illness and crime linked? Yes. Is this problem being blown out of proportion by the media and general public? Yes. A 1993 survey in Parade magazine showed that over 57 percent of Americans think that the mentally ill are dangerous, and more likely to commit crimes than any other segment of the population.

In recent tragedies, such as the Columbine High School shootings and the Yosemite tourist murders, the perpetrators have claimed to suffer from mental illness. Eric Harris, one of the gunmen in the Columbine incident, was taking Luvox, an antidepressant used to treat obsessive-compulsive disorder. Cary Stayner, suspect in the Yosemite murders, claims to also suffer from OCD, and that the condition has caused him to fantasize about killing women since he was seven years old. Jeremy Stromeyer, who raped and murdered a seven year old girl in a Nevada casino, had been diagnosed with attention deficit disorder and put on Ritalin, despite the fact that he was a methamphetamine addict. These are not the only incidents where mental illness has been sighted as a factor in crime. Throughout history, this has occurred repeatedly.

Unfortunately, cases like these have led many people to believe that people who suffer from mental illness are dangerous and violent. Conflicting reports and studies have not done much to dispel this myth, and the media had been known to exaggerate the mental history of suspects as well. It is very easy to be inclined to believe that a person who commits a heinous crime simply could not be sane. To rape and murder someone must indicate mental illness, right? Not necessarily, although it can definitely be argued that a lot of criminals are not in the healthiest state of mind. And although a majority of criminals might have a mental illness, this does not mean that most of the mentally ill are criminals. Several recent reports shed some light on this matter.

According to a report in the Archives of General Psychiatry, mental patients who have been recently discharged from hospital stays are no more violent or dangerous than other members of the community. Some experts estimate that the mentally ill are responsible for about 1,000 homicides per year, though that figure is controversial. Other experts suggest that the mentally ill are responsible for about 4 percent of overall violence. That is a very low figure. Recent research shows that those who are being treated for mental illness are no more violent than the rest of the population.

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