How Is Crime Affected By Violent Crime

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Violent Crimes Impacted by Mental Health Mental health illnesses can cause people to act in spontaneous, or unpredictable ways. When gone untreated, mental health illnesses such as schizophrenia, or post traumatic stress disorder can cause sudden, violent outbursts, that might otherwise be uncharacteristic to the individual in question. These outbursts can result in serious, violent crimes, such as assault, or murder. With violent crimes that occur as a result of mental health issues, it is difficult to prove mens rea, as the individual in question was most likely in an altered state of mind. The prevention of serious crime committed by these individuals is often very difficult, as it is nearly impossible to predict when one of these outbursts is about to occur.…show more content…
Therefore, when an individual with a mental health illness commits an offence, it is difficult for people without a mental health illness to understand, or to help them. It is also very hard to predict these crimes in advance, as they can come as a sudden surge of violence that may have never occurred with the individual before. Typically, there are warning signs to these mental health issues developing, although they are not usually noticed until a diagnosis has been given. Often, there is no pattern to the violence that occurs from the individual, but rather, it occurs on a spontaneous basis. Once the offence has been committed, the intent is not usually there, making it difficult for them to be proven guilty of the crime that took place. 3 In

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