Abstract
Previous studies have reported that state mental hospital deinstitutionalization has resulted in the processing of the mentally ill through the criminal justice system. Using pre- and postdeinstitutionalization samples of defendants found incompetent to stand trial (IST) selected from three states, this study examines changes in the mental health and arrest histories of white and nonwhite ISTs. These data reveal a significant increase in the number of nonwhite ISTs. Also, after deinstitutionalization, nonwhite ISTs had significantly more prior arrests and hospitalizations than white ISTs. There were, however, no differences in the offenses for which whites and nonwhites were arrested.
Footnotes
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Thomas M. Arvanites is affiliated with the Department of Sociology, Villanova University. This work was supported in part by the New York State Office of Mental Health and National Institute of Justice Grant No. 79-NI-AX-2016. The author would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their comments on an earlier draft.
- Copyright © 1989, The American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law
