Criminalization Hypothesis: An Historical Policy Analysis

The 1970s marked a sea change in American public policy in many areas. These changes, including deinstitutionalization, the strengthening of drug crime laws, and the emergence of sentencing reform profoundly affecting people with mental illness. Since the 1970s, a large number of people with mental illness have entered the criminal justice system. The criminalization hypothesis is one idea offered to explain this phenomenon. This hypothesis, however,oversimplifies the complexity of historical developments by only focusing on the role of deinstitutionalization and illness. Historical data on multiple policy trends are used to pose a 'fundamental causes' explanation of the involvement of people with mental illness in the criminal justice system. Evidence suggests that substance abuse and related legislation, demography, and economic shifts have more explanatory power than is typically accounted for by researchers and policy makers. This paper examines the role of the historical developments in explaining the large numbers of people with mental illness in the criminal justice system. Using archival data, an explanatory model is developed based on public health, social work and criminal justice perspectives. The findings of the study have implications for the creation and implementation of policy level interventions and social level interventions to reduce criminal justice involvement of people with mental illness.