University of Nevada School of Medicine and Medical College of Wisconsin, Adjunct Professor of Criminology, Marquette University, Henderson, NV 89044, USA.
Int J Law Psychiatry. 2010 Sep-Oct;33(4):214-9. doi: 10.1016/j.ijlp.2010.06.002. Epub 2010 Jul 23.
The deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill which started in the 1960s greatly contributed to the overcrowding of judicial systems throughout the world. In the ensuing years, the actors involved in the adversarial system present in United States courts, a system that is primarily interested in assessing the culpability of the offender, have come to realize that the system is lacking therapeutic and reintegrative approaches to offenders, especially those who are mentally ill. Therapeutic jurisprudence, an interdisciplinary science, addresses this problematic situation of the mentally ill. It offers a fresh insight into the potentially beneficial and detrimental effects of legal decisions and views one of the roles of law as that of a healing agent. At present, many states have instituted mental health courts based on these concepts, incorporating previous drug court experiences. Their goal is to avoid the criminalization of the mentally ill and their recidivism through the creation of special programs. This article describes the mental health court programs of Washoe County and Clark County, Nevada, their organization, their therapeutic goals, and their success in keeping mentally ill offenders out of the correctional system, while improving their mental condition. In so doing, the program has lightened the load of the overburdened courts and has greatly diminished the financial burden incurred for court trials and jail and prison stays.
20 世纪 60 年代开始的精神病人非机构化极大地导致了世界范围内司法系统的过度拥挤。在随后的几年里，美国法庭对抗式诉讼程序中的参与者逐渐意识到，该系统缺乏对罪犯的治疗和再融入方法，尤其是那些精神病人。作为一门跨学科科学，治疗法学解决了精神病人的这一问题。它为法律决策的潜在有益和有害影响提供了新的见解，并将法律的作用之一视为治疗剂。目前，许多州都根据这些理念设立了精神卫生法院，借鉴了以前的毒品法院经验。他们的目标是通过创建特殊项目来避免精神病人被定罪和累犯。本文描述了内华达州瓦肖县和克拉克县的精神卫生法院计划，包括其组织、治疗目标以及在避免将精神病人送进惩教系统、改善其精神状况方面的成功。这样做不仅减轻了负担过重的法院的负担，还大大减少了因法庭审判、监禁和监狱拘留而产生的财政负担。
