Rudolph Alexander

The Civil Commitment of Sex Offenders in Light of Foucha v. Louisiana

The United States Supreme Court has ruled that an individual who has been judged insane and committed to a mental facility and who has regained his sanity but remains dangerous cannot continue to be confined. In a dissenting opinion, Justice Kennedy stated that the majoritys decision might have put in doubt the civil commitment of persons other than insanity acquittees. The author of this essay contends that the Courts decision indeed did so and argues that dangerous or predatory sex offenders cannot now be civilly committed to mental institutions. The author argues also that the criminal justice system, rather than the mental health system, is more appropriate for controlling sex offenders.

African American Youths and Drugs: A Time to Pursue a Mental Health Approach

Some statistical information suggests that White youths do not possess and use drugs as much as African American youths. This impression is given by the racial proportion of juveniles who are handled by juvenile courts and incarcerated in juvenile correctional institutions for drug offenses. However, other statistical information reveals that this impression is erroneous. The author reviews these statistics and recommends a mental health approach to decrease the proportion of African American youths incarceratedfor drug offenses.

Introduction to African Americans: Benefits and Challenges of Working at Predominantly White Institutions: Strategies for Thriving

This article serves as an introduction to a set of articles by several authors on the difficulties and challenges of being African American at predominately White academic institutions. The guest editors note that African Americans play critical roles in mentoring African American students and junior African American faculty. Yet, challenges exist from sometimes a few hostile White students and administrators, who question the competencies and scholarship of African American faculty. The guest editors introduce the authors and provide a summary of their articles.

Differential Punishing of African Americans and Whites Who Possess Drugs: A Just Policy or a Continuation of the Past?:

Five African Americans in Minnesota were arrested and charged with possession of a cocaine base, known on the street as crack. The statute that they were charged under provided that possession of 3 or more grams of crack cocaine was a third-degree felony, punishable by up ta 20 years of incarceration, In addition, the same ; statute provided that possession of 10 grams or more of a cocaine powder was a third-degree felony. Less than 10 grams of cocaine powder was a fifth-degree felony, punishable by up to 5 years. In Hennepin County in 1988,97% of the persons m t e d for cocaine base or crack were African Americans, and 80% of the persons arrested for cocaine powder were White. I3ecausc of these statistics and differential punishments, the five African Americans contested the constitutionality of the statute, After hearing the presentation of the issues, the Minnesota Supreme Court upheld the challenge and ruled the statute unconstitutional (State v. Russell, 1991). . The issue of whether African Americans am punished more severely than are White Americans by the criminal justice system and whether the system is racist has bccn debated in the literature (Blumstein, 1982; Johnson, 1992, Peterson & Hagan, 1983). On one hand, some criminal justice professionals have called the

Restorative Justice: Misunderstood and Misapplied

Abstract One of the most popular criminal justice paradigms is restorative justice. Restorative justice is victim-centered and focuses on repairing the damage individuals and communities suffer as a result of a criminal act. Uncoerced apologies and remorse for the offending behavior and the victim are important features of restorative justice. However, the criminal justice system and the public eschew principal features of restorative justice. For example, the law coerces apology and remorse. Moreover, the courtroom has become, for the most part, a place for victims, and sometimes judges to attack, demean, ridicule, and disparage defendantsall antithetical to restorative justice. The omnipresent expectation for an offender to unilaterally accept total responsibility for the crime, apologize to the victim, and express remorse for the crime undermines the core objectives of restorative justice and obscures significant social and legal problems.

Post-prison Community Reentry and African American Males: Implications for Family Therapy and Health

African American males make up a large proportion of the US male prison population. Fortunately for the African American community and society at large, many of these men will be released back into their communities and go on to become productive citizens. Scant literature exists relative to reentry programs that exist for this population. In this chapter, the authors discuss some of the issues related to prison incarceration, its effects on African American males and community reentry. Family therapy from an Afrocentric perspective is presented as an intervention designed to strengthen family cohesion once these men are re-united with their families. Further, implications for the health of former African American male inmates, their families, and the African American community are discussed. Recommendations for encouraging African American males to seek mental health and family therapy services upon release from prison are given.

The United States Supreme Court And An Inmate's Right To Refuse Mental Health Treatment:

The courts have stated categorically and unequivocally that civilly committed persons have a constitutional right to refuse psychotropic drugs. However, the courts have never spoken so firmly with respect to prisoners. Prisoners have enjoyed a rather fragile, indirect right to resist mental health treatment, which is often administered under the guise of aversive therapy or which is actually unwarranted. In 1990, the U.S. Supreme Court had an opportunity in Washington v. Harper to afford prisoners the same right other hospitalized individuals have to refuse psychotropic drugs. Instead, the Court chose to sanction the involuntary treatment of mentally ill prisoners. The author of this essay analyzes this decision and its implications for the criminal justice system and the rights of prisoners.

Correlates of African American Children In and Out of Their Families

Most African American children reside with their families but a large number do not due to placement in child protective services, the juvenile justice system, or in relative care. Social disorganization theory provides that societal change produces social disorganization, which may cause social problems. Some neighborhoods are better able to address problems than are others. In this study, the authors use social disorganization theory to understand the separation of African American children from their families. The U.S. Census Bureau (2000a) defines census tracts as similar to neighborhoods. An evaluation of 263 neighborhoods in Franklin County, Ohio, found moderate support for social disorganization theory in that 11 of 19 demographic variables were significantly correlated with whether African American children lived with their families or elsewhere. A perceptive analysis shows that lower percentages of demographic variables are significantly correlated with children remaining in their homes.

Civil commitment of sex offenders to mental institutions: should the standard be based on serious mental illness or mental disorder?

Abstract Civil commitment to mental institutions requires that an individual be both seriously mentally ill and dangerous. This principle is erroneously being applied to incarcerated sex offenders nearing release from prison under the theory that they have antisocial personalities or paraphilia disorders, which are called mental illnesses. However, the mental health and legal communities are at odds regarding the use of a diagnosis of personality disorder or paraphilia to justify civil commitment. The author reviews the differences between serious mental illness and mental disorder, the flaws with assessing sex offenders as mentally ill, and the ethical dilemma for social workers employed in mental hospitals.

HANDS-OFF, HANDS-ON, HANDS-SEMI-OFF: A DISCUSSION OF THE CURRENT LEGAL TEST USED BY THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT TO DECIDE INMATES’ RIGHTS

ABSTRACT Beginning in the 1970s, a few criminal justice professionals alerted the justice community that the U.S. Supreme Court was returning to a “hands-off” doctrine, and thereby was reversing advances made in prisoners’ rights. These warnings were generally made following a decision which was adverse to prisoners. The Court had not articulated a full legal test by which one could ultimately conclude that a hands-off doctrine had reemerged. However, the Court announced such a test in 1987 that is called the reasonableness test. Although the reasonableness test connotes prudence and fairness, it is extremely deferential to state prison officials and provides a constitutional vehicle for regressing prisoners’ rights. This paper retraces the hands-off doctrine, discusses the reasonableness test, analyzes several cases where the test has been applied, and concludes that a semi-hands-off doctrine has unfolded.