PSYC 3210U Lecture 6: Forensic Psychology- Unit 7
Unit 7 – Mentally Disordered Offenders
Case studies
Canadian Media Cases
• Vince Li, beheaded a passenger on a Greyhound bus
- Cannibalism
- Believed God selected him to save us from an alien attack (2008)
- Found not criminally responsible on account of mental disorder
• Jeffrey Arenburg, paranoid schizophrenic, shot a TV news reporter (1995)
- Believed the station was broadcasting messages in his head
The Real Story
• 73% of all mentally disordered characters on prime time American TV
display some form of violent behaviour (Gerbner et al., 1981)
• Most important take home message today is
- Despite the media, most seriously mentally ill people DO NOT commit
serious violent crime, rather they are more likely to trespass, shoplift, or
commit minor assault
• So many ways mental health comes in contact with criminal justice system
POLICE
PSYCHIATRIC
EMERG
FORENSIC
ASSESS
COURT
RELEASE RELEASE
COMMUNITY
MENTAL HEALTH
CC
U
F
S
T/NC
R
MD
HOSPITAL
PROBATION
PAROLE
RTC
RELEASE RELEASE
CRIM CODE
REVIEW
BOARD
G
DO/LTO
PRISON/
PEN
REVIEW/
APPEAL
PAROLE
BOARD
RELEASERELEASERELEASE
CIVIL MENTAL
HEALTH SYSTEM
(CMHS)
FORENSIC MENTAL
HEALTH SYSTEM
(FMHS)
CRIMINAL
JUSTICE SYSTEM
(CJS)
COMMUNITY
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• First point of contact individuals always have is a police officer who refers
the individual to where they need to be
Practice Question #1
Vince Li and Jeffrey Arenburg were two high profile Canadian offenders with
serious mental disorders who committed homicide. These cases illustrate the
following important message:
Answer: The media sensationalizes violent acts committed by mentally disordered
offenders
Understanding & Diagnosing Mental Illness
What is Mental Illness?
• Mental illness is a disorder (a disease) of the mind that experts judge to
itefee sigifiatl ith a pesos ailit to ope ith dail life Batol &
Bartol, 2011)
Diagnosing Mental Disorder
• Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder (DSM-5, APA
(American psychiatric association), 2013)
• DSM Issues:
- Increasing number
➢ One of the biggest issues is that a whole new host of disorders arise
- Temporal changes
➢ Hooseualit as a disode efoe ad o its ot
- Psychiatric focus
Mood Disorders 101
• Depression: feeling down in the dumps/ extreme sadness & loss of interest/
pleasure in activities
• Bi-polar: cycles of depression and mania
• Mania: he thee is a aoall ad pesistetl eleated, epasie,
or iritale ood D“M IV, p.357
Schizophrenia Spectrum and other Psychotic Disorders 101
• Many disorders fall within this diagnostic spectrum
• Main feature: psychotic (break from reality) symptoms:
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- Delusions (faulty thoughts)
➢ Paranoid
➢ Eeoes folloig you or out to get you
- Hallucinations (faulty perceptions)
➢ Sight, auditory, taste, touch, smell
➢ Hearing things or seeing things
Delusion or Hallucination?
• The government is out to get me; they follow me everywhere, bug my
apatet, hak eails
➢ Delusion
• God told e I had to kill hilde to sae the
➢ Hallucination
• Alies ae speakig to e though adio aes
➢ Hallucination
Referral Decision Scale (Teplin & Swartz, 1986)
• Schizophrenia
- Have you ever believed that people were following you?
- Have you ever felt that other people knew your thoughts and could read
your mind?
• Major Depression
- Have you ever lost your appetite for a period of two or more weeks?
- Have you ever lost or gained 2 pounds or more in a week?
• Bipolar
- Have your thoughts raced so fast that you had trouble keeping track of
them?
- Fo a peiod of a eek hae ou ee felt that ou didt eed to sleep
e uh, ut eet sleep.
Practice Question #5
Although there are various tools that can be used to diagnosis mental disorder,
the gold standard is the ____________________ and it is published by the
Answer: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder (DSM-5); American
Psychiatric Association
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Document Summary
Canadian media cases: vince li, beheaded a passenger on a greyhound bus. Found not criminally responsible on account of mental disorder: jeffrey arenburg, paranoid schizophrenic, shot a tv news reporter (1995) Believed the station was broadcasting messages in his head. The real story: 73% of all mentally disordered characters on prime time american tv display some form of violent behaviour (gerbner et al. , 1981, most important take home message today is. Despite the media, most seriously mentally ill people do not commit serious violent crime, rather they are more likely to trespass, shoplift, or commit minor assault. U f s t / n c r m d. Justice system (fmhs) (cjs: so many ways mental health comes in contact with criminal justice system, first point of contact individuals always have is a police officer who refers the individual to where they need to be.
