Highlights

The vast majority of our discussions about crime, mass shootings, police encounters that go wrong, treatment failures and recidivism may be explained by the fact that offenders we encounter can be very troubled people with brain injuries, PTSD, and mental health issues who self-medicate through drugs and alcohol.

Most offenders are under the influence of drugs and alcohol at the time of arrest.

Author

Leonard Adam Sipes, Jr.

Retired federal senior spokesperson. Thirty-five years of award-winning public relations for national and state criminal justice agencies. Interviewed multiple times by every national news outlet. Former Senior Specialist for Crime Prevention for the Department of Justice’s clearinghouse. Former Director of Information Services, National Crime Prevention Council. Former Adjunct Associate Professor of criminology and public affairs-University of Maryland, University College. Former advisor to presidential and gubernatorial campaigns. Former advisor to the “McGruff-Take a Bite Out of Crime” national media campaign. Certificate of Advanced Study-Johns Hopkins University. Aspiring drummer.

Article

Correctional officials in prisons and parole and probation agencies say that their mental health caseloads are exploding.

Cops cite inexplicable actions on the part of offenders that create dangerous or deadly confrontations. Many, if not most, have mental health issues ranging from the diagnosable to emotional to anxiety, stress and depression concerns as well as brain injuries.

Mental Health Does Not Mean Dangerous

We need to understand that mental illness does not mean criminality or dangerousness; the great majority of those with mental illness pose little to no risk. But concurrently, forms of depression, anxiety, despair, mental illness, and self-medication through drugs and alcohol, is part of the makeup of most in the justice system.

Add Drugs

We arrested an offender with anxiety issues who was high on PCP. He assaulted a woman at a college.

There were three of us arresting one person and we almost destroyed an office in the process. All of us were considered large individuals; he was five foot nine weighing approximately 150 pounds. He fought viciously. We were worried about our safety and uncertain as to his apprehension. After a ten minute intense struggle, we handcuffed the individual.

Data indicates that most offenders at the time of arrest were under the influence of drugs or alcohol or both.

Anywhere from 56 percent (Charlotte) to 82 percent (Chicago) of arrestees across sites tested positive for the presence of some substance at the time of arrest. In 9 out of the 10 sites in 2009, 60 percent or more of arrestees tested positive, see ADAM and Drug Use at Arrest.

CNN and Mass Shootings

Each attack is as unique as it is horrific. But among the country’s deadliest acts of violence last year, investigators found similarities between many of the alleged perpetrators.

The Secret Service’s annual Mass Attacks in Public Spaces report, released Tuesday, says almost all of the alleged criminals in 27 mass attacks last year had experienced a major stressor in their lives.

And almost all had made alarming or threatening communications directed toward or in the presence of others. In more than 75% of the cases, someone else had noticed a sign of concern.

The report was published by the Secret Service’s National Threat Assessment Center. The 27 attacks studied involved those in which three or more people were killed or injured last year. They include attacks in workplaces, schools and places of worship.

Half of the attackers were motivated by a grievance, the report found.

“In this report, two-thirds had mental health issues that deeply impacted their relationships,” said Dr. Lina Alathari, chief of the National Threat Assessment Center.

“For some of them, it contributed to the motive of why they carried out the attack.”

“While there is no single profile of a person who commits targeted violence, this report, and so many others … aims to assist our partners in law enforcement, in the education area, and so many other stakeholders in understanding some of the motivations behind mass attacks and their causative factors,” Secret Service Director James Murray said, CNN.

Everyday Offending

There is a ton of dysfunctional decision making among offenders resulting in police shootings, criminal activity, and high recidivism.