ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would take this opportunity to thank my research supervisor, family and friends for their support and guidance without which this research would not have been possible.

DECLARATION

I, [type your full first names and surname here], declare that the contents of this dissertation/thesis represent my own unaided work, and that the dissertation/thesis has not previously been submitted for academic examination towards any qualification. Furthermore, it represents my own opinions and not necessarily those of the University.

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Reintegration of the Mentally Ill Non-Violent Offenders into the Miami-Dade Community

Introduction

The study is related to the community health of Miami-Dade Community which particularly focuses on the reintegration of the mentally ill non-violent offenders in the community. In this context, behind every health story in the community, there is a complex set of factors that determine whether people are “as healthy as possible.” A health assessment in the community like Miami-Dade Community, is a dynamic process monitoring undertaken to determine the strengths and needs of the community, allow prioritization in health that are applicable to the entire community and cause action to improve health and quality of life in the community (Born, 2000).

Miami-Dade Community and Reintegration of the Mentally Ill Non-Violent Offenders

The term mentally ill non-violent offenders have a number of potential meanings. First, it means people who have a mental disorder who have also committed a criminal offense, usually of a trivial nature (Buchanan, 2006). A proportion of these may never be convicted but, rather, are diverted to mental health services at an early stage in the criminal justice process. Secondly are offenders who develop a mental disorder after conviction. While some of these people will be unknown to the psychiatric services, others will be known but are, none the less, dealt with primarily as offenders until the point of sentencing, when their mental state may result in a hospital disposal under the Mental Health Act 1983 rather than a penal disposal (Andreasen, Goodstein, Wilson, 16-29).

Thirdly are people with serious mental disorders that either prevent them from entering a valid plea at trial or result in them being found not guilty. Both such occurrences are rare, and it is technically inappropriate to describe such individuals as offenders since they have not been found culpable. When people are found unfit to plead, they may nevertheless be held to have committed the actus reus of an offense - that is, they are found to have done the act - even though their mental state does not permit a full trial to go ahead. In these circumstances, 'offenders' may be given a hospital disposal or dealt with in the community. In the even rarer cases where 'offenders' are found not guilty by reason of insanity (as per the M'Naghten case of 1843), they are truly not offenders since they have been acquitted. However, in these circumstances the courts have the power to send such individuals to hospital for treatment, to give them a community disposal or to discharge them altogether (Berger, Cunningham, Drumwright, 43-58).

Police involvement with mentally ...