The Flaws of Forensic Psychology

The Flaws of Forensic Psychology

    As previously stated, forensic psychology focuses those with mental illness in regards to law and order. Sometimes the emphasis is on how crimes are committed by certain people and why. Understanding their thought process could help prevent crimes in the future. Knowledge like this can be extremely valuable. However, forensic psychology is not without its flaws. For example, in Actual Prisons, the treatment of mentally ill people in prison is shown to be dangerous and unethical.

    A woman named Deniese Younger went to prison for an outburst. She has Intermittent Explosive Disorder and Major Depressive Disorder. While locked up, she was not given the treatment necessary in order to improve. Rather, she described her experiences in jail as "hellish" and "miserable". She felt insignificant, like she was trapped in an abyss of shame and guilt for her actions, and “...[s]he didn’t have access to any sort of mental health counseling that could help her make sense of her conditions” (Leslie, 2017). The psychology programs in jails are clearly not effective, and need improvements. Individuals with psychological disorders need substantial treatment in order to grow and blossom into a contributing member of a society instead of punishment for something they have little to no control over.

Parents Behind Bars

(Sniffen, 2017)

    Despite the millions of American children with parents locked up and away, the government has done very little to provide for those trapped in incarceration. These mentally ill former caretakers, now with little freedom, only get to see their children once every year at most. For some it’s even less frequently. “...[A] majority of state inmates — 57 percent of fathers and 54 percent of mothers — reported never having had a personal visit with their children since being locked up” (Sniffen, 2015). From this, we can say that parents in prison with psychological disorders are being treated more like monsters, and less like actual people. While it’s true that they may be incarcerated for a good reason, we don’t need to strip them of their names and their families. That sort of action should only be taken if absolutely necessary. Until that line is crossed, they are still people, and should have the right see their children.