Offenders with mental impairments: What is to be done?

摘要

Heretofore, the ostensibly disjointed and polarized nature of the two systems conveys the impression that uniting them to address the plight of OMIs in insurmountable, overwhelming, and improbable. Failure to bridge the two systems continues to exacerbate the uncoordinated use of resources and increases the costs of intervention without appreciable effect (DiamondSchnee, 1991). In other words, unifying the two systems is required to avoid the non-therapeutic and non-rehabilitative practice of punishing OMIs who blunder into crime rather than treating them for the disorders that suffer them to blunder. At the least, this communication will hopefully improve the plight of OMIs by stimulating dialogues through which others can offer their own experiences.