Prime
Mental health awareness month
What you need to know:
- The month of May also happens to be Mental Health Awareness month. Particularly for these two cases, there seems to be speculation of mental illness involved.
- The purpose of this court is to allow individuals with mental illness who are charged with misdemeanour offences a chance to be diverted from the criminal justice system and into programmes designed to be restorative and therapeutic.
The month of May has seen quite a number of shootings including the killing of Minister of State for Labour, Employment and Industrial Relations, Col (Rtd) Charles Okello Engola, who was shot by his bodyguard Private Wilson Sabiti as well as the shooting of Uttam Bhandari by police constable Ivan Wabwire.
The month of May also happens to be Mental Health Awareness month. Particularly for these two cases, there seems to be speculation of mental illness involved.
Too often people with mental illnesses are at risk of criminal justice involvement cycle repeatedly through courts. Lack of accessible treatment in the community can prompt their contact with the criminal justice system. Compounding the problem, many traditional courts cannot provide needed mental health treatment as part of confinement or connect individuals with effective treatment services in the community when they are released from prison.
Frequent involvement with the criminal justice system adversely affects the well-being of these individuals, consumes scarce resources, and can compromise public safety.
Mental illness under the Mental Health Act of 2018 is defined to mean a diagnosis of a mental health condition in terms of accepted diagnostic criteria made by a mental health practitioner or medical practitioner authorised to make such diagnosis, mental health conditions include but are not are limited to depression, bipolar, anxiety disorders, schizophrenia and addictive behaviour due to alcohol/substance abuse ,among others.
According to research this is known as severe mental illness or severe and persistent mental illness (SPMI).
However there are less severe forms of mental illness which are classified under serious mental illness. These are mental disorders that significantly interfere with some area of social functioning (eg work, school, family, leisure).
While in Uganda, under Part VI of the Mental Health Act, 2018, there is recognition of the need for mental health treatment for suspects and prisoners, other jurisdictions such as the US have gone ahead to establish mental health courts, with the first court established by Chief Judge Dale Ross on June 6, 1997.
The purpose of this court is to allow individuals with mental illness who are charged with misdemeanour offences a chance to be diverted from the criminal justice system and into programmes designed to be restorative and therapeutic. These courts are united by the common themes of substituting a problem-solving model for traditional criminal court processing and an emphasis on linking defendants to effective treatment and supports.
Unlike the traditional court system, in mental health courts the court personnel including the judges, prosecutors and defence lawyers as well are all mandated to receive training and continuing education in topics such as criminal law, behavioural health, ethics, evidence based screening, assessment and treatment practices, substance use disorders, mental illness, co-occurring disorders, criminogetic risks and needs, all of which are necessary in better adjudicating over cases involving people with mental illness.
There is need to recognise that individuals with diagnosable mental illness may come into contact with the criminal justice system and be charged with felony or misdemeanour offences.
Mental illness and substance use disorders co-occur in a substantial percentage of criminal defendants hence the critical need for the criminal justice system to recognise individuals struggling with these issues, provide alternatives to incarceration to address mental illness, and provide appropriate access to treatment and support to such individuals.
Policy makers and practitioners need to develop a number of community-based criminal justice/mental health initiatives such as specialised responses by law enforcement, community corrections, and courts.
Authored by Melanie Karamagi Nkwanzi, Lawyer
