Mental Health Problems and Violence: Myths and Science

Session Submission Type: Complete Thematic Panel

Abstract

Public officials are struggling to find ways to decrease violent crime in society, and one strategy is to target high risk groups. There is considerable debate about what the actual relationship between mental health problems and violence is, and whether this relationship changes over time. This panel focuses on empirical results describing psychopathology profiles and continued involvement in violence over time, reviews existing literature on this topic to identify common misconceptions and finally compares public perceptions and experts’ opinions on mental health problems and gun violence.
This panel also focus on screening for dangerousness (risk for committing violence) for mentally ill, the usefulness of background registries, and the relevance of this information for legislators and policy makers.

Sub Unit

• Area V: Types of Offending / 29: Violent Crime

Individual Presentations

• Mental health and the transition from adolescence to emerging adulthood: Examining patterns of comorbidity in the continuity and desistance of criminal offending between two developmental stages - Jeffrey Mathesius, Simon Fraser University; Raymond Corrado, Simon Fraser University; Evan C. McCuish, Simon Fraser University

• Do Serious Mental Health Problems Predict Violence and What Are the Policy Implications? - Rolf Loeber, University of Pittsburgh; Lia Ahonen, University of Pittsburgh

• Tracking mentally ill individuals to reduce violence in the United States: Are background checks effective prevention strategies? - Lia Ahonen, University of Pittsburgh; Rolf Loeber, University of Pittsburgh

Chair

• Lia Ahonen, University of Pittsburgh

Discussant

• Raymond Corrado, Simon Fraser University