Sentencing of People with Mental Disorders Essay

Sentencing of People with Mental Disorders - Essay Example It can also be defined as the authoritative decree of the punishment of a convicted person (Birmingham, 2002). Under this context, criminals or people who are found guilty of committing some crime have to face the consequences of their actions and the decision making is in the hands of an authoritative power which decides the penalties for the offenders. These decisions are made on the basis of a set of rules which are operating in the area where the crime has been committed. The rules and punishments are same for everyone irrespective of their color, caste or creed, but there are some special circumstances where these rules have to be tweaked. Same is the case with the people who are not mentally fit; their sentencing differs from criminals of normal medical conditions. Mental Disorders: A disorder can be termed as functional abnormality. Mental disorders comprise of a wide range of derangements in behavioral or psychological functions. These are mainly a combination of abnormal tho ughts, emotions, and relationships with others. This psychological instability and disruption in the equilibrium of motions is often reflected in the behavior of the affected individual. The set of laws and the law enforcement agencies work in different ways all over the world; the decision and punishment of mentally disabled criminals basically depends on the local area where they have been convicted. The Effect of the Selected Sentencing Policy on All Involved Stakeholders: No matter what laws regarding mentally disordered convicts is operational in certain areas, the decisions taken and the results of the sentence always affect the stakeholders one way or the other. Stakeholders: A stakeholder can be an individual or a group of people as well. A stakeholder is a party that is affected by or can affect the actions of the project at hand. In law enforcement, the stakeholders can be: Judiciary Probation and parole services Social service organizations Mental hospitals and treatment facilities Community etc. Even though according to The Task Force, created by the American Bar Association a person should not be sentenced to death or executed if at the time of the offense he/she was suffering from a mental disorder or was mentally challenged in a such a serious way that reflects in his/her behavioral and social adaptive skills. Even after these rules have been set, they are not applicable to all circumstances and some counties and their legal systems do not implement upon them. Furthermore the second rule of The Task Force states that offenders should not be executed or sentenced to death of at the time of the offense they had no awareness of the nature of the crime and the consequences associated with it. If they are mentally impaired and cannot exercise rational judgment or do not have any idea about the lawful actions that might be taken as a result of the crime, then in all these cases the guilty person should not be executed or sentenced to death as s/he is mentally challenged (Tabak, 2006). Criminals with mental disorders are released after a small period of incarceration. The period of incarceration depends upon the severity of the mental disorder and the nature of the crime. After that period, such people are often shifted to community centers, mental hospitals, or other treatment facilit