Mental Illness

Beyond the Narrative: Mental Health Crisis and Police-Involved Shootings

Beyond the Narrative: Mental Health Crisis and Police-Involved Shootings

Individuals with mental illness, psychologists, and activists yet again are forced to reiterate that mental illness does not lead to violence against others. iustitia has commented on why focusing on mental illness in the wake of mass shootings is dangerous and risks stigmatization. But there is a mental health connection in police involved shootings that has constantly evinced media coverage and consequently, solutions. This narrative serves to conceal a brewing crisis that must be unmasked and that lies at the intersection of police-involved shootings and mental illness.

“FREE TO A WILLING HOME: 13 yo m with BPD” – How Unwanted Adopted Children with Mental Illness Become Victims of an Underground Internet Child Exchange

“FREE TO A WILLING HOME: 13 yo m with BPD” – How Unwanted Adopted Children with Mental Illness Become Victims of an Underground Internet Child Exchange

The heightened mental health concerns associated with adopted children unfortunately lead to many failed adoptions, often referred to as “disrupted.” Failed adoptions drive a disturbing underground phenomenon—the “private re-homing” of children, arranged online and with little to no government regulation. Adoptive parents, finding themselves overwhelmed and unequipped to deal with behavioral issues stemming from their adopted children’s mental health conditions, take to the internet—forums on Facebook or message boards on Yahoo, for example—to find a new home for the child, much like you would see for a family pet. The practice has become an underground lawless market for unwanted adopted children.

Evolving Standards of Decency Don't Include Solitary Confinement for Autistic Prisoners

Evolving Standards of Decency Don't Include Solitary Confinement for Autistic Prisoners

Individuals with autism who end up embroiled in the criminal justice system often find themselves not only brutalized by police because of law enforcement’s failure to recognize and understand autism, but also severely punished if they end up in prison. Some are even re-victimized because of mental health illnesses that result from traumatizing experiences associated with their incarceration. For many, particularly children, the penchant to place incarcerated individuals with autism in solitary confinement—either for their own safety or as punishment for perceived misbehavior—raises concerns under the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution and may amount to a breach of the international prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.