Biases in the Criminal Justice System with Reference to the Practice of Compulsory Treatment of Mentally Ill Offenders

One of the least researched areas of the economic analysis of lawtoday is Criminal law and Criminal justice. A contemporary line of thinkingand examination is the behavioural economic approach that reflects on variousmental distortions (i.e. biases) affecting the decision-making and situationassessment of individuals. The focus of my essay is the intersection of Criminallaw and behavioural economics in the sphere of biases influencing theparticipants in criminal proceedings. The measure of compulsory treatment inthe cases of mentally ill offenders serves as an illustration: the application ofthe sanction, as well as the review procedure aimed at deciding whether analready applied sanction could be ceased and the treated person should bereleased. Outlining this measure is justified by the fact that the potentialconsiderations and evaluations of mentally ill offenders cannot be taken intoaccount as those of sane perpetrators (who are in no state of impairment of themind). This places an even greater responsibility on the rest of the proceduralparticipants – especially judges and experts – to deliver well-reasoneddecisions by eliminating the eventual negative consequences of their generallyless reflected mental distortions that could pose further detriments to thementally ill. As a closure, I am referring to certain ways and means that canpotentially reduce the role of biases in the criminal proceedings and thuscontribute to fairer jurisdiction for the mentally ill.