2.1 Chapter Overview
2.1.1 Learning Objectives
The following learning objectives tell you what’s most important in this chapter. Use these statements as a study guide to make sure you get the most out of this chapter.
- Describe some of the mental disorders encountered in the criminal justice system.
- Be aware of available assessments for a range of mental health and substance use disorders in the criminal justice system.
- Discuss the negative impacts of misinformation, bias, and stigma for those living with and supporting individuals with mental disorders.
2.1.2 Key Terms
Look for these important terms in the text in bold. Understanding these terms will help you meet the learning objectives of this chapter. You can find the complete definitions for these terms at the end of the chapter.
- Anosognosia
- Anxiety disorders
- Co-occurring mental disorder
- Criminality
- Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)
- Dissociative disorders
- Malingering
- Mood disorders
- Neurocognitive disorders
- Neurodevelopmental disorders
- Paraphilic disorders
- Personality disorders
- Psychotic disorders
- Psychopathy
- Substance use disorders
On a January day in 2013, a 26-year-old man named Ethan Saylor, accompanied by a caregiver, sat for a showing of “Zero Dark Thirty” in a Maryland movie theater. Ethan, who loved church, guitars, and police officers, had Down Syndrome, a relatively common genetic disorder that causes intellectual and developmental disability (figure 2.1) When their movie ended, Ethan’s caregiver asked him to wait for her while she went to get the car. While the caregiver was gone, Ethan returned to his seat in the theater and thought he might like to watch the movie a second time.
Figure 2.1 is a photo of Ethan Saylor.
The theater manager contacted mall security, which on that day was staffed by three sheriff’s deputies working a special detail. The deputies told Ethan he needed to leave, but Ethan verbally resisted. As the situation escalated, Ethan’s caregiver was prevented – despite her pleas – from going to Ethan to assist in resolving the situation. Instead, the deputies forced Ethan, who hated being touched, out of his seat and proceeded to arrest him. Witnesses reported that one deputy had his knee in Ethan’s back as they tried to handcuff him. Ethan called out “Mommy” before he eventually stopped breathing. Ethan’s death was ruled a homicide due to asphyxiation. A grand jury declined to issue charges against the deputies who killed Ethan (Perry, 2013; Vargas, 2023).
Led by Ethan’s devastated mother, a movement to increase awareness and education around treatment of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities among the law enforcement community followed Ethan’s death. One focus of the Ethan Saylor Alliance [Website], linked here if you would like to learn more, is ensuring that people with developmental or intellectual disabilities, themselves, advise and participate in training programs for law enforcement officers and other public service entities.
As discussed in the first chapter of this text, there have always been a disproportionate number of people with mental disorders involved in the criminal justice system – from public encounters like Ethan Saylor’s to criminally charged and incarcerated populations. Thus, it is critical for students of criminal justice to consider and have a basic understanding of the common mental disorders they may encounter in the course of their work. This chapter provides an overview of these disorders. As you read this chapter, consider: how might Ethan Saylor’s encounter have ended differently if the deputies responsible for his death had, instead, been educated and capable of responding appropriately on that day?
2.1.3 Chapter Overview: Licenses and Attributions
“Chapter Overview” by Kendra Harding, Anne Nichol & Monica McKirdy is licensed under CC BY 4.0.
Figure 2.1 “Photo of Ethan Saylor” by 4WardEverUK is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0