One study revealed that individuals who were not taking their medications were 63 percent more likely to be violent than individuals who complied with medication regiments. The violence of a few individuals with mental illness unfortunately stigmatizes the majority of the mentally ill who are non-violent and are much more often the victims of violence. Unfortunately, there is a great lack of such treatment opportunities in community systems of care such as newer approaches like Assertive Community Treatment which has been shown to be effective for early intervention for people at risk for relapse. Adequate housing and other social welfare supports are other important components of a community-based system. These are also lacking in many communities.
Homelessness leads to criminalization.
Another option for solving the criminalization of the mentally ill is court ordered treatment. Need for treatment, grave disability, chronic course, lack of insight into illness and previous noncompliance with treatment are all criteria that should be used in court ordered treatment. Court ordered treatment will only work as long as there is treatment available in the appropriate settings. Some patients may benefit from assisted outpatient treatment that forces treatment compliance in the community to a court ordered treatment plan. Not only does the court commit the patient to the treatment system but also commits the treatment system to the patient.