Juveniles with mental illness in the criminal justice system
I served as a youth counselor and advocate in Salt Lake City, Utah. A youth advocate is a person who acts in the best interests of the youth that they are working with. The overall purpose of a youth advocate is to ensure that youth maintain their human rights while aiding in skill development in all areas of life such as education, health, housing, employment and relationships. It was an eye-opening opportunity as I was able to work with youth who had criminal charges and had been removed from their homes and placed in this in-patient youth center. The charges ranged from theft to attempted murder. Most were unruly juveniles who lacked a sense of community and responsibility. For the most part their mentality was focused on the right here and now. Meaning that they lived only for the moment and did not consider their future or the consequences that they faced due to their behavior right now. I was privileged to work closely with individuals and their families to prepare them to go before the judge and advocate for them and their future.
Among the many mental illnesses I encountered, was antisocial personality disorder. Antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) is a mental health condition that involves a long-term pattern of manipulating, exploiting, or violating the rights of others. People with ASPD often:
ASPD is also known as dissocial personality disorder. It’s sometimes referred to as “sociopath” or “psychopath”.
One juvenile in particular, displayed these symptoms to the extreme. He was an 11-year-old who faced multiple charges including gang activity. He was a violent young man and had multiple fights on his record, some while using weapons. He always challenged the other boys in the program. He was the youngest of the group. Despite his young age and size, he constantly picked fights with the older boys in particular the larger ones. His ego and desire for dominance was the driving force in his thought process. During an interview with him in preparation for court, I asked him what his outlook on life was and tried to discuss some goals and positive activities he could try. Tragically, his main goal in life was to kill a cop. Being a known gang member, he had constant encounters with the police due to mischievous activity as well as drug charges. He told me, “I’m gonna kill a cop, they are more criminals than me.” I was a bit taken back at his response! He was raised from birth into a predominant gang family, well known in the Salt Lake City area. His father as well as two uncles were in prison. I asked if he thought about the possibility of going to prison and he had no hesitation and viewed it as a badge of honor. He not only thought about it, he planned on it. He said that he would be a “shot caller” and “run it” while incarcerated.
As I shared in a previous post, “70% of youth in the juvenile justice system have a diagnosable mental health condition. Youth in detention are 10 times more likely to suffer from psychosis than youth in the community.” I think that we can do a lot to intervene in the lives of our youth in order to help them stay out of the juvenile justice system. We can look for the signs of mental health illnesses and act early. Once incarcerated, lets focus on programs and rehabilitation and change attitudes to help them focus their energy on productive activities rather than criminality. We need to help them light up the darkness!
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