Both assertive community treatment teams and drug treatment courts play a significant role in the prevention of substance abuse and helping with mental health. Assertive community treatment (ACT) is a treatment model that strives to help patients through teamwork and provides 24/7 support for their mental illnesses (Psychosocial Treatments). The drug treatment court’s primary objective is to divert the rise of mental illness within the criminal justice system and prevent future incarceration of patients who committed crimes due to mental illness (Landess & Holoyda, 2017). Newfoundland should have something similar to these two systems to address the substance abuse and mental health of the criminals, as this will help in lowering the crime rate. If these measures are implemented, then treating substance abuse and mental illness will help in reducing the crime rate, but if these measures do not work in some cases, then addressing those cases as a distinct legal matter might prove to be more beneficial.
Mental health and substance abuse should be treated as social issues as it is the negative social influences that cause them. There are many cases of substance abuse that were a result of poor treatment of the individual by society. This mistreatment not only forced them to turn to drugs as a means to escape but also affected their mental health in the worst manner imagined.
The gangs that have been emerging in Western Canada include more youth gangs than the typical Mafia gangs that are found in the United States. The members of these gangs are anti-social and partake in delinquent behaviour. There are numerous cases of public shootings among these gangs, and according to Dr Satwinder Kaur Bains, these young gang members have not yet experienced life, so they think they can easily take someone’s life (Cox & Keller, 2021). These gangs are unpredictable in their activities, so they can prove to be more difficult to police than small street-level gangs.
The police department should have specialized gang units, as well as business crime sections, to help prevent gang violence and organized crimes. The justice system should intensify and strengthen its focus on both white-collar crime and corporate crime, as this can lead to an understanding of the reason behind all the crimes that are committed by these individuals. This, in the long run, can help in reducing the crime rate and making the streets safer for the citizens.
References
Cox, W., & Keller, J. (2021, May 12). Western Canada: Gang violence rattles Vancouver. Retrieved from The Globe and The Mail: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/british-columbia/article-western-canada-gang-violence-rattles-vancouver/
Landess, J., & Holoyda, B. (2017, September 11). Mental health courts and forensic assertive community treatment teams as correctional diversion programs. Retrieved from Wiley Online Library: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/bsl.2307
Psychosocial Treatments. (n.d.). Retrieved from NAMI: https://www.nami.org/About-Mental-Illness/Treatments/Psychosocial-Treatments
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