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Running head: MENTAL ILLNESS AND CRIME
Research Design, Instrumentation, and Data Analysis:
Relating Mental Illnesses such as Schizophrenia, stress disorder, and Substance Abuse
Disorder to violence and mass shootings
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Abstract
The number of people being diagnosed with mental illnesses is increasing at a rate of 1.8% in the
United States (Levin, 2005). This number is alarming and threatening considering the fact the
good percentage of mental ills end up engaging in criminal activities. Schizophrenia and people
under alcoholism rehabilitation are known to be high risk due to their violent nature, for instance
(Mulvey & White, 2014). The relevance of conducting a study in this field is to reduce the risk
posed by the mentally ill people in the societies, and to reduce the issue of stereotyping mental
ills as violent criminals (Faruqui, 2011). An investigation into the filed will embrace an interview
with mentally ill individuals found guilty with various crimes. The investigation will look into
their mental illnesses, and relate this to the type of crimes they were found guilty of. Data will be
collected in mental health asylums, prisons, and substance abuse rehabilitation centers.
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Introduction
According to Faruqui (2011), a lot of focus on research has been with the association
between mental disorders, and crime, via the use of both longitudinal and cross-sectional
research designs. Relatively, most people who are mentally ill or suffer from mental disorders
are not involved in any violent acts, and those who are involved in violent acts like crime do not
suffer from any form of mental illness (Faruqui, 2011). According to a report released in 2016 by
the World Health Organization (WHO), following a qualitative research study carried out in
2014 and 2015, it shows that more than two-thirds of the inmates in almost half of the prisons in
the United States suffer from mental disorders both chronic and those induced by drug usage.
Finding a relationship between mental disorders such as schizophrenia and violent criminal
activities is of critical relevance (Faruqui, 2011).
A study carried out by Levin (2005), a psychologist in Guatemala Maximum Prison in
2014 on related substance abuse and violent crimes. It noted a positive relationship, with a large
number of violent crime prisoner’s confession to have abused at least a drug or substance. Most
of the prisoners who were in for non-violent crimes were found to be either: clean of substance
abuse, or mild substance abusers. Other than the interviews with the prisoners, the researchers
had access to prison data and personal history of the offenders presented to them when the
offender was first incarcerated. The idea which is being propagated is that the researcher created
a correlation between the abuse of drugs and the engagement to violent crime, especially when it
comes to mass shootings. With the effect of changing normal desired and priorities, the
researcher thus describes substance use as a mental disorder (Levin, 2005).
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Purpose of the Research
This research seeks to identify whether there is a relationship between mental disorders
and criminal activities. It also seeks to identify whether, if there is any; how mental disorders
influence the type and effects of the crime they participate in. Additionally, it also tried to offer
some recommended courses of action appropriate in reducing the effect of mental disorder on
social order, if at all mental disorders are found to influence and trigger criminal activities. In
most cases, when it comes to mass shootings, there are four assumptions which apply in the U.S.
First, the first assumption is that mental illness is the main cause of mass shootings. Secondly,
psychiatric diagnoses can lead to prediction of crime, and mass shootings are the epitome of
deranged individuals that are mentally ill. Lastly, gun control cannot come to deal with such
issues and people in the society. While the research will not dwell on mass shootings, there is a
need to note that the paper seeks to understand the role of substance abuse and mental illnesses
on violent crimes, and thus, the overall conclusion of weapons not being exposed to people with
mental illnesses.
Importance of the Study
The first benefit of this study is restoring social order. As aforementioned in the
objectives, it seeks to reinstate social order. The study will achieve this benefit by giving proper
recommendation to reduce criminal occurrences due to substance abuse. Secondly, this study
will work towards the reduction of the number of people incarcerated in prisons, yet they are
supposed to be in rehabilitation or a mental health asylum centers for mental illnesses and
substance abuse. Thirdly, the study will be beneficial to the general community because it will
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serve as a warning against the effects of mental illnesses on the people they live with. It will be a
guide on how they will live with these types of people (Levin, 2005). Furthermore, there is a
need to try and call for more funding to the mental programs in the prisons, since research
indicates that there is massive underfunding towards mental welfare in the prison system. There
is a need to have an objective framework through which all the people who have been engaged in
violent crime, and mass shootings in America are accorded the expected mental care, rather than
being subjected to the media bias and vindictive approach.
Literature Review
Mulvey and White’s Research (2014) found out that the members of the studied society
could not merge properly with people with a history of mental illnesses. The authors realized that
this was mainly because people feared the violence level that a mental ill person is capable of.
The study realized that the mentally ill were treated like violent criminals in the society. The
researchers further suggest that this stereotyping caused some psychological effects on the
people who had a history of mental illnesses, and made them introverted (antisocial); a trait that
makes people paranoid and violent (Mulvey & White, 2014). Additionally, Mulvey also realized
that social media and other technologies play a role in worsening mental illnesses and these
platforms have shown a frequency of relating mental illnesses to violence (Mulvey & White,
2014).
According to a quantitative research study conducted by Stevens (2013), in the year
2010, involving 30 participants suffering from mental disorders from Guatemala Maximum
Prison, results showed that the occurrence of violence in mentally ill patients is board variability,
in correspondence to the treatment being given. Minimal incidence rates of violence have been
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recorded at a percentage range of between 22% to 46% in involuntarily committed patients, 13%
to 38% in the acute care setting and 3% to 12% to outpatients (Stevens, 2013).
According to Stevens (2013), approximately 11% of individuals with schizophrenia or
other mental disorder behave violently compared to 3% in public. He suggested that the
treatment model of schizophrenia also affects the individuals’ aggressiveness and violence. He
suggests that is better to treat them from home and not in a mental health asylum because
schizophrenia is full of episodes. He mentions that treating this population and following up with
their progress can reduce their perceived threat to the public through a reduced rate of violent
acts (Stevens, 2013).
Fazel, Långström, Hjern, Grann, and Lichtenstein, (2009) studied the effect of substance
abuse and schizophrenia on criminal activities. They realized that alcohol and other commonly
abused substances such as heroin increase chances of violence. Schizophrenia was found to
increase an individual’s chances of participating in violent actions. Some substances commonly
abused such as marijuana was found to reduce chances of violence, but users were commonly
found doing non-violent criminal activities such as stealing. Schizophrenia subjects in the study
showed positive outcome to treatment, as their participation in violent activities declined. Former
substance users who showed violent acts also showed positive changes after rehabilitation
(Fazel, Långström, Hjern, Grann, and Lichtenstein, 2009).
In another the same study, it was found out that one-year populace attributable risk of a
crime connected to severe psychological disorder was attained to be 4% of the Epidemiologic
Catchment area survey even though the previous statistics suggested mental illness does not
contribute to risk violence. 95% of the crime currently taking place could continue even when
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the risk of abuse in individual suffering mental disease is minimized to moderate danger to those
with no psychological illness (Stevens, 2013).
Fazel, Gulati, Linsell, Geddes, & Grann, (2009) researched on schizophrenia and violent
crimes. The investigation realized that schizophrenias are more likely to engage in violent
activities, including violent crimes. However, it also found out that those who were
schizophrenic and abused substances were at a higher risk of participating in violent crimes like
homicide. In fact, the study realized that comorbidity heightened the chances of the individual’s
participation in violent acts severally (Fazel, Gulati, Linsell, Geddes, & Grann, 2009)
Anderson (2017) argues in his report released in 2017 following a meta-analysis research
conducted in 2016 that people with mental disorders usually feel unsafe. It also concludes that,
for this reason they end up becoming violent. He argues that one of the major symptoms that
people with mental disorders experience include hallucinations which makes them feel like their
minds are being vanquished or crushed by certain external forces they are experiencing and when
this happens there is a high chance that they might resolve in violent acts like committing suicide
or murdering those he or she feels threatened by. Due to this, it is therefore evident that people
with mental disorders are four times more likely to indulge in such violent acts as compared to
healthy people in a society (Anderson).
In an article by Metzl & MacLeish 2015, there are some systematic issues which become
apparent when they observe that “scripts linking guns and mental illness arise in the aftermath of
many US mass shootings in no small part because of the psychiatric histories of the assailants.
Reports suggest that up to 60% of perpetrators of mass shootings in the United States since 1970
displayed symptoms including acute paranoia, delusions, and depression before committing their
crimes”. It implies that there has been a long failure to deal with all the mental issues which have
MENTAL ILLNESS AND CRIME
accumulated over time, but have not been addressed to this age. It is the realization on the
complexity of the correlation between mental illness and gun violence which the authors mainly
allude to. No one disputes the trend in which people who are known to be violent are socially
marginalized and have mental problems (Goldstein, 2015). In most cases, it has caused to a
situation in which most of the decisions on gun violence are negated to health professionals and
psychologists, yet they do not have the competence of experience to understand the dynamics of
such issues.
Knoll et al., 2016 makes a fair argument on gun violence. The authors argue that most
gun violence are not primarily out of mental issues but rather a combination of various factors,
and which are poorly understood. The authors make a point that “although some mass shooters
are found to have a history of psychiatric illness, no reliable research has suggested that a
majority of perpetrators are primarily influenced by serious mental illness as opposed to, for
example, psychological turmoil flowing from other sources”. The main relevance of the authors
to the overall topic is their ability to form a relationship to issues such as mass murder, the bias
of the media, politicization of gun issues and a general inability to deal with gun violence in the
US which all culminates in the condition in which most people do not have any clue on how to
move forward. For instance, in most of the gun violence which are fatal, the perpetrators feel
indulged to leave a message, a final mark which will bear testimony to their existence. It could
be a problem on self-perception, or a general unawareness on what to do in most instances.
Paranoia, even which may not reach psychotic levels, is one factor which is found to remain
constant in most cases of gun violence, and the people are inclined to exact revenge on the
people they feel have not been pleasant to them (Lankford, 2016).
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The most recent case of mass shootings in Florida saw the US President continue with a
stereotype which has defined most gun violence issues. The president argued on the mental state
of the perpetrator, citing the historical background of delinquency and lack of character as
justifications for such a premise. However, according to Fox & DeLateur, 2014, this
generalization has been counterproductive. In most instances, the correlation between gun
violence and mental illnesses has been found to be lower than most people expect. Statistics
indicate that “at most, only around 5 percent of crimes in the U.S. are performed by people with
mental illness and that the percentage is the same for violent crimes—which means that 95
percent of violent crimes are committed by non-mentally ill individuals”. Perhaps, this is where
the whole idea of substance abuse comes to focus.
Hirschtritt & Binder, 2018 continue to offer an insight in gun violence in the US by
saying that the stereotyping of gun violence to people with mental issues is a perpetuation of an
already vulnerable and socially marginalized population. The idea is that such points have only
served to deviate the objectivity of the debate on gun violence, and development of policy
matters that can address the deficit which has been pointed out earlier. In most cases, the people
do not understand that substance abuse has been one of the causes of crime, and the US criminal
justice has failed to reform the often moribund obligatory sentences in some possession cases. It
could be an indicator of a political unwillingness among the concerned parties.
In the US, taking it as a lead example, in 2007, according to the Bureau of Justice
Statistics “more than 750,000 crimes linked to alcohol or drug intoxication were committed in
the United States alone”. Interestingly, this trend is not confined to the US alone. A research
study done by Fox & Fridel, 2016, shows that “homicide rates across nine different countries
found that 48 percent of homicide offenders had alcohol in their systems at the time of their
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offense while 37 percent were intoxicated”. It all shows why the common assumption on mental
illness and gun violence is not only misleading but also biased. It is a way of feeding into the
very idea of individuals being systematically targeted because of impairment. It is the ‘why’
question that has been found to be wanting because there is a variation on the crimes which are
committed. For instance, there are some who are engaged in domestic abuse due to substance
abuse, while some resort to extremes such as gun violence. To try and bridge this gap,
researchers have sought to use meta-analysis, which means different findings are compared over
the years to try and have an objective finding. A team from Yale University led by Duke, 2018,
used a meta-analysis and alcohol and substance abuse was constant across many studies as being
significant in causing crime and violence. There was an interesting finding which needs further
research that alcohol and substance abuse was more pronounced on the perpetrators rather than
the victims. It is an area that needs further research.
Lastly, the American Addiction Centers has argued that substance abuse and alcohol is a
‘cause and consequence’ relationship; which means that there is a co-dependence. Furthermore,
the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs found that “before seeking treatment for substance
abuse, the rate of violent acts was as high as 72 percent among men and 50 percent among
women” (Chermack & Blow, 2012 and this should give a framework on the hypothesis being
analyzed in the paper.
Hypothesis
This paper has two hypotheses; a null hypothesis and an alternative hypothesis.
Alternative hypothesis:
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There is a relationship between the mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, stress disorder, and
others and engagement in criminal activities. It all depends on having a significant relationship
backed by empirical research which establishes a significant positive correlation between
substance abuse and mental issues to gun violence and mass shootings.
Null Hypothesis:
There is no relationship between substance abuse and violent crimes. It means that after
analyzing the data, there will be no significant relationship between the rate of gun violence and
substance abuse and mental issues.
Problem Statement
According to Hare (2015), there is an on-going debate that deliberates the association
between mental illness and crime. Approximately 18.5% of people in the United States only are
diagnosed with a mental illness. If these people are positively related to criminal activities, it
means that this high percentage of new crimes will be experienced every year. Even worse, the
large numbers are. Schizophrenia, for instances, is associated with violence. 1% of Americans
are diagnosed with the mental disorder every year. 1.2% of Americans are living with the mental
conditions and only less than 50% of the schizophrenia patients have access to psychological
therapy. If the relationship holds to be true, then there are a good number of violent people out
there who are not undergoing mental treatment (Hare, & Hart, 2015). The focus will be on
seeking to understand how mental issues and substance abuse makes an individual to be prone to
gun violence and other forms of crime. There has been a significant increase in the US of gun
violence, and while there have been several indicators, there needs to be an objective debate
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which seeks to understand the dynamics of this debate to establish a correlation which can be
empirically applied objectively.
Purpose of Research
A lot of research studies have been done over the years to determine whether there is a
relationship between mental disorders or rather mental illness and crime. The results that have
been obtained are still contradicting as others support while others differ. The goal of the
research study is to investigate the nature of the dynamic relationship between gun violence and
mental disorder and substance abuse. What factors are at apply? The paper endeavors to establish
the interaction of mental issues and substance abuse, and how they lead to, or not lead, to gun
violence. The paper covers the effects of drug substance abuse on the mental health and more
specifically how mental health disorder can lead to increased criminal activities for addicts.
According to Faruqui (2011), there is no general conclusion that people involved in criminal
offenses suffer from mental illnesses or that people suffering from mental illnesses are involved
in criminal offenses
Methodology
Research Design
A descriptive research design will be used in this study. Descriptive research design
usually answers the question “what” via the use of statistical characteristics of the population
under investigation (Hare, 2015). In this case, will involve the collection of quantifiable data
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tabulated in a continuum mathematical formula. This data will then be analyzed, and a
conclusion drawn upon a discussion on how mental illness and crime are related. The resign will
also allow the accretion of both quantitative and qualitative data which will be analyzed to
determine the type of relationship between mental illness and crime which will be generated
from the questionnaires and its analysis.
In the process of data collection, permission will be sought to speak to several prisoners
incarcerated due to different crimes. Further information will also be sought from the prison
authorities about the histories of their prisoners with a specific interest on three factors: the type
of crime committed; involvement in substance abuse, and any prior or current diagnosis with any
mental disorder. These parameters will be correlated on SPSS data analysis software using
Spearman’s correlation or person’s correlation, depending on the trend of data. A paired t-test
will be used to compare means of the given sets of data. Seeking permission requires an
identification of the prisoners who have may generate the information required, and this will be
done upfront through writing to the authorities for facilitation. After the plausible list is
generated, then the researcher will use an analysis to determine the representative sample, and
then liaising with authorities on availability, accessibility and voluntary participation. Other
principles of research will be explained and only after consensus will the interviewing continue.
Target Population
The study will require 300 individuals with mental illnesses and disorders from
correctional centers, rehabilitation centers, and mental hospitals. To ensure even representation, a
random selection of 100 individuals will be selected from a prison, a mental asylum, and a
rehabilitation center. The reason why this amount of number is required is that according to
Anderson (2017), the more the number of participants in a study, the more accurate the results
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and the easier it becomes to draw conclusions upon a discussion of the findings. Moreover, the
individuals will be selected from the three areas to ensure ease in research since these the areas
where individuals have been selected from have the needed personnel required to perform the
experiments including the psychiatrists and at the same time they have the files of the
participants and hence ease in finding other needed details. It will also save the time on research
and experiments. The best area to explore is a county since it is not too extensive. The county
should have a mental health asylum, a prison, and rehabilitation center.
Sample Size and Sampling Procedure
To ease and fasten the process of collecting data from the participants, a relatively minor
sampling size will be chosen. A sampling size of 20 participants will be chosen from the three
locations; which are correctional centers, rehabilitation centers, and mental hospitals. This is to
mean that there will be 15 groups of participants from the 300 individuals from the three areas.
To come up with this estimate, the sampling procedure used will be the normal distribution
method. This is to say that all data will be collected without bias, having equal number of
representatives from each point of study and in line with the international framework on research
process that involve human beings. According to Stevens (2013), normal distribution increases
the ease of coming up with the normal distribution graph to compare the variables under
investigation of which in our case are mental illness and crime.
Research Instruments
One research instrument to be used is an interview questionnaire in the collection of
primary data. It will be administered on the aforementioned population of some offenders who
are incarcerated, those who are in mental health asylums, and those who are in rehabilitation
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centers for substance abuse and crime cases. Questionnaires increase the chances to Read the
respondent’s facial expressions when talking to them. This is beneficial in the evaluation of
whether they are honest or not (Faruqui, 2011). Another requirement for the study, other than the
filled in questions for the interviews is an audio recorder to collect the information Also needed
will be consent forms, signed from the school to prove to the authorities that I am conducting an
educational research.
Data Collection Procedure
Data will be collected via various methods including camera recordings, and forms filled
by the participants in questionnaires and interview sessions. The collected data will then be
scaffold as per the data. To ensure that ethics of research are followed, a consent of agreement
will be obtained from the Rehabilitation Center, Correction Center, and from the Institute of
Mental Health Care Facility. This will be done by an associate researcher who has undergone
training for the sake of ethics of the research. The professionals will also participate in the
development of the questionnaire to ensure that the questions asked to their patients and other
participants are not too sensitive or personal. It will have few and guiding questions with
multiple choice answers for higher ease of quantifying the output. Questionnaires will then be
employed for acquiring evidence form the participants easily (Levin, 2005). All the data will
then be soughed and put together in terms of whether they are quantitative or qualitative data
before analysis of the same is done.
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Data Analysis
The collected data will be tabulated and sorted to pool all the similar results. After
pooling and tabulating data, it will be important to calculate the measures of central tendency and
skewness. More specifically, it will be relevant to calculate the mean, which will show the
average measures of the data. I intend for the data to be analyzed quantitatively, given the data
size of 300 participants. Skewness will be measured using the standard deviation or variance.
These parameters will be used in the paired t-test analysis. With data sets that exceed 30
participants, the study should be quantitative and not qualitative. Additionally, the data will be
paired in a paired t-test. The tests compare the means of the given data sets. Another way to
confirm the comparison will be Pearson’s correlation coefficient which is used for normally
distributed data. The IBM SPSS software will be of absolute importance in these data analysis
processed.
Conclusion
Mental ills are stereotyped as criminals in the society (Anderson, 2017). Where
stereotyping is wrong, it should be investigated whether they are really what they are stereotyped
to be. According to research, certain mental illnesses such as schizophrenia make people violent
(Faruqui, 2011). The effect of substance abuse is also closely related to mental illnesses, and
there has been some cases relating substance abuse to criminal activities. Schizophrenia and
alcohol abuse are related to violent crimes, for instance (Hare, & Hart, 2015). In a bid to
investigate the two parameters, identifying the relationship between mental illnesses, substance
abuse and criminal activities is essential (Levin, 2005). The specific criminal activities, for
instance, violent crimes should be looked into alongside their relationship with mental illnesses.
It is helpful to mentally ill individuals in the society in overcoming the influence of their
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conditions and substance abuse, thus becoming more acceptable and less stereotyped as
criminals. It can also reduce the fear of the community living with people suffering from mental
illnesses (Mulvey, White, 2014).
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