Perceptions of justice involved PWMI

• In Event: Contemporary Issues in Justice-Involved Persons with Mental Illness

Abstract

While perceptions of people with mental illness (PWMI) among certain professions and among the general public have received attention in the literature, there is relatively little scholarship on criminal justice and criminology students’ perceptions of this group, despite the fact these students will almost certainly encounter PWMI when they enter the field. This study describes students’ perceptions of PWMI after a community engagement assignment that required them to visit and observe the local drug court, which has a mental health track. Students perceived PWMI’s involvement in the justice system to be a function of their substance use and of a lack of mental health resources that were largely inaccessible before enrollment in the mental health track of the drug court. Recommendations for using community engagement as a teaching tool for students learning about justice involved PWMI are included.

Author

• Kelly Frailing, Loyola University New Orleans