New study questions crime and mental illness link
Stefanie Rezansoff is looking to change the public view of the link between mental illness and criminal activity, arguing that we should be blaming the creation of criminal offenders on other factors.
A Dean’s Convocation Medal recipient and current PhD student, Rezansoff became interested in the topic of crime and mental health during an internship at the Regional Psychiatric in Saskatoon, which is a maximum security penitentiary for inmates with mental illnesses. When she returned to school some years later to pursue her Master’s in Public Health, Rezansoff decided to pursue that interest.
In her thesis research, Rezansoff sampled a population of 31,000 provincial offenders — all of whom were serving a sentence of two years or less — in an attempt to analyse the links between substance use, mental illness, and involvement in the criminal justice system.
What Rezansoff found was that despite the prevailing literature that argues that people with mental illness tend to be at higher risk of committing crimes, other factors such as substance abuse, poverty, and social marginalization were more likely causing these people to become involved with the criminal justice system.
“In fact (as a group) offenders diagnosed with a mental disorder — without a co-occurring substance use disorder — were less likely to recidivate compared to offenders with no mental disorder,” said Rezansoff in an interview with The Peak. “But the presence of a substance use disorder significantly increased the risk of reoffending — and particularly so among offenders with an existing mental disorder. And unfortunately . . . the two often co-occur.”
Rezansoff explained that because a lot of mental illness coincides with substance use disorders, there is a perception that mentally ill people are very dangerous. In reality, it’s their substance use — not their mental illness — that leads to their involvement in the criminal justice system.
“Notably, nearly 50 per cent of repeat offenders in British Columbia had a physician-diagnosed substance use disorder in the five years prior to their index offense,” said Rezansoff.
For Rezansoff, changing the perspective on mental illness is only the beginning. Real change will only be made possible through understanding and treatment for both mental illness and substance abuse disorders.
“If we can somehow target that need for treatment, then I think we might be able to see a decrease in recidivism and very importantly — keep people with co-occurring mental disorders out of the criminal justice system and engaged with community services that promote their well-being,” said Rezansoff.
Canada strides ahead in heart health
According to a new study by SFU Health Sciences professor Michel Joffres, thousands of deaths in Canada, the U.S. and England could be avoided with greater awareness of the risks of hypertension.
Hypertension is the leading risk factor for premature death, stroke, and heart disease, however research shows that the condition is largely preventable. Notwithstanding, in 2000, the world was estimated to have close to one billion people with hypertension, with the number predicted to rise to 1.56 billion by 2025.
The study, published in the BMJ Open, analysed data from the three countries and found that although blood pressure levels in all of them are still high, those in Canada and the USA have shown great improvements over the past years.
Hypertension is the leading risk factor for premature death, stroke, and heart disease.
The mean systolic blood pressure (SBP) levels were overall higher in England in all age-gender groups, with 66 per cent of adults aged 20 to 79 being classified as having “abnormal” blood pressure.
In his study, Joffres lists several factors as contributing to England’s higher SBP rates: high-sodium diet, physical inactivity, and a lower level of awareness, treatment and control of individuals with high-blood pressure.
In an interview with Public Affairs and Media Relations at SFU, Joffres attributed Canada’s success in lowering hypertension rates to greater awareness.
Since 2000, Canada has launched annual hypertension recommendations programmes (Canadian Hypertension Education Programme (CHEP)) that work to inform the public about hypertension and the health risks and opportunities to reduce dietary salt.
“The remarkable improvement we have seen in Canada since the 1990s is probably due in great part to the awareness we created with our last study,” said Joffres. “and [with] an excellent program in Canada that followed and has created greater awareness in the physicians’ community.”
