For generations, Americans have fought in true patriotic spirit for their country but as technology advances and warfare rages, unprecedented psychological impacts have followed these heroes home. Plagued by mental disorders and left to suffer by their own government, thousands of veterans and active duty service members never truly return from the battlefield. Recent studies have shown that the most common mental disorder that impacts both war veterans and active duty service members alike is an increasingly common yet debilitating disorder; Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD, is an incapacitating mental disorder which “stems from experiencing or witnessing an extremely traumatic or terrifying event”.
With such a high prevalence of PTSD in the veteran population left untreated, conviction rates in this community continue to skyrocket. Violence lead by this nation’s heroes is no longer an uncommon topic in America as rates of mentally ill service men and women committing atrocities while experiencing symptoms of this debilitating disorder escalate to unparalleled levels. Veterans who commit crimes under the influence of service-related PTSD will plead the insanity defense, which was built upon the principle that people who commit crimes without full awareness of should not be held fully responsible for their actions. However, at a time where the United States has the highest mass incarceration rate in the world with nearly 20% of the prison population being veterans, it is obvious that Insanity Law must be examined in its applicability to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in the criminal justice system.
Although PTSD is a relatively new disorder diagnosis, symptoms of wartime post traumatic stress have been recognized by medical professionals and the military for centuries. PTSD originally made its appearance in the public eye in the aftermath of the Vietnam War when it was included in the Third Edition of the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) in 1980. Once formally recognized by health professionals, advocates for the disorder lobbied for inclusion of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder under the insanity defense so that veterans suffering from the intense symptoms could have an adequate legal defense that could protect them from life in prison.
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PTSD may have initially been listed in the DSM as an anxiety disorder, just having the disorder legitimized was a helpful first step in acknowledging the hardship of the veteran population. In spite of the fact that post traumatic stress disorder is now the most common compensable mental disorder and combat-related PTSD rates have increased at alarming rates, there are still critics of the disorder who believe it to be a social construct with a high potential for abuse. The legal implications involved with the use of the diagnosis of PTSD as a mental status defense to mitigate criminal culpability have slowed the evolution of insanity law from fully encapsulating post traumatic stress as a worthy justification for crimes committed.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder develops from experiencing, witnessing, or being confronted with an event that either involved or threatened death or serious injury along with having a physiological response in which the individual responds with intense fear, helplessness, or horror. Through chemical processes, brain function will undergo significant changes which can be triggered at any time in response to a traumatic stressor.
The stressor causes the hypothalamus to signal the pituitary gland to secrete adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), generating a natural response to stress including adrenaline, increased heart rate, desensitization, and hyper-alertness. The individuals who are affected by this disorder can repeat this cycle with any interaction with the stressor even in situations where they are not in any danger. Studies with Magnetic Resonance Imaging, or MRI, indicate that not only are the chemical processes of brain function changed but the hippocampi, which is involved with memory and emotional experiences, may be significantly damaged.
The symptomology of post traumatic stress disorder can be categorized into three typologies: (1) dissociative reactions, (2) sensation-seeking syndrome, and (3) depression-suicidal syndrome. Individuals with PTSD may not experience all three typologies as all three are not required to be diagnosed with the disorder. Dissociative reactions, although being the most sensationalized, is the rarest typology of the three. Veterans with PTSD, especially those who have experienced considerable trauma, often overreact to inconsequential threats as a result of hyper-alertness.
Dissociative reactions, otherwise known as flashbacks, cause a distorted sense of reality in which the victim may react automatically in a survival mode one would use in a combat zone while reliving past traumatic events. A veteran can remain in this altered reality for as little as a few minutes or as long as several days while being completely unaware of the implications of their own actions. It is during this state where veterans may commit crimes despite the dissociative state inhibiting their conscious awareness of the criminality of their actions.
References
- National Center for PTSD
- PTSD and Crime: Assessment, Research and Intervention
- Understanding Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in Veterans
- National Institute of Mental Health – Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
- Trauma, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, and Criminal Responsibility of Mentally Disordered Offenders
- Mayo Clinic – Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
- Criminal responsibility in posttraumatic stress disorder
