Where is the ‘illness’ in the criminalization of mental illness?

Conceptualizing mental illness too generally as a cause of criminal involvement is not useful for policy or service implications. Such a strategy decontextualizes the experience of people with mental illness from broader incarceration patterns in the U.S. When the reasons people go to jail or return to jail are examined, it becomes clear that the key issues are social difficulties complicated by mental illness — but not caused by mental illness. To inform community mental health practice, future research should account for the broader social context of criminal behavior and interventions should be more carefully integrated into the broader policy context of criminal justice systems.