Social Policies in the United States (Essay Sample)

Social Policy;
Student’s Name;
Institution:
Social Policy
Introduction
Due to de-institutionalization, the interactions between the police and mentally challenged individuals has increased in the 21st century. Instead of being maintained in corrective institutions, these individuals are allowed to live among ordinary people in the communities. In this case, numerous policies have been formulated to ensure that their rights are observed and are fairly treated. Such policies are integrated with various ideologies that are believed to concur with the welfare of the society as a whole. In other words, the goals of the policies made are attached to ideologies of different social and political movements in the country. Social policies go beyond the provision of social welfare service and include other issues that affect communities. Some ideologies such as social liberalism, conservatism, and inclusive liberalism affirm that people must be trained, invest, work and above all, given the necessary freedom in order to improve the standard of living as well as individual capacity. On the other hand, neo-liberalism is an ideology associated with the globalization of economies and provision of public services that enhance the lives of the people across the world. This paper thus describes the de-institutionalization of mentally ill, how the legislation addresses the issue and the need for the institutions for training police on handling mentally challenged people.
Background
The undeniable fact is that police are on the first line of contact with mentally ill in Canada. The law enforcement agencies are cautious of this issue as such interactions do not end well eventually with police having little or no skills to handle the people. Furthermore, police have been taken responsibility to deal with this social crisis because support and treatment of the people with mental problems have been abandoned by the respective agencies. High stigmatization of mental illness also contributes to inadequate care from the people who would otherwise be suppressing this line of contact between authorities and mentally ill.
The issue affects almost venery member of society starting with those related to such people, to those interact with them like the police. The Canadian Police Department, in fact, began to request more resources to handle people suffering from mental illness in the 1980s who were on the rise at that time. More emphasize on individual rights and de-institutionalization were the main cause of the crisis through the universal declaration of human rights was enacted in several decades before. The declaration penned down thirty articles stipulating the rights of every individual including those who are mentally challenged. According to Article 25, every person is granted the right to a preferred standard of living with the adequate well-being of self, health and social services. A person also has right to security in the event of illness, unemployment, disability, old age, widowhood and lack of means of livelihood so long as the person is under uncontrollable circumstances. This article, therefore, gives mentally ill the right to equal treatment in regards to the law.
The Charter of Rights and Freedoms in 1982 were primarily enacted with the current Human Rights Act. The Canadian Human Rights Acts, specifically, prohibits any form of discrimination to the people with disabilities whether physical or psychological. Physical and mental disability form the major grounds for discrimination. The universal declaration of human rights of 1948 made the foundation of developing policies on how to treat people with mental illness. The declaration also suggested specific medical models deal with such people.
Although previous studies indicate that people suffering from mental illness rarely commit criminal activities, recent ones show that such people are reported to the law enforcement due to crime. Mental health disorder is common among females in Canada and highest among the youth due to substance abuse. The statistics also show that people living in limited economic means are highly likely to suffer from mental illness. Approximately one in three Canadians with mental disorder are reported to have interacted with police. It has been argued that rise in this kind of contact has been prompted by frequent changes in policies and legislation.
For instance, the policy of de-institutionalization shifted the care of mentally ill from hospital setting to community-based setting. Community-based care support for those with mental disorders is claimed to lack expansion capacity as compared to the institutional services. This is a classic example of fiscal conservatism where the members of the state are given the rights to lead their lives without the interference of the government. Social liberalism is also revealed as the Canada encouraged personal development with mentally ill given the chance to go to their private institutions according to the preferences of their families. However, information on interactions between police and people with mental health disorder is given more priority now more than ever. These people more often than not can be in unpredictable and hazardous situations where they need urgent police response. In fact, there is a need for police to be educated on reacting to such immediate responses. This policy relates to inclusive liberalism where the government is encouraging to initiate resourceful training programs to upgrade individual capacity (Canadian Mental Health Association).
Summary
The need for appropriate policies is fueled by the fact that currently there is no standard framework for gathering and utilizing information involving these interactions. Furthermore, the rise of the interactions means that these people are either reported to the law enforcement either propagating criminal activities or endangering themselves. On the other hand, the police are under-equipped in terms of skills and resources to handle these cases. The problem is compounded by part of the population most affected by the issue. Women and youth are vulnerable, especially when the mentally challenged. The police may have a hard time dealing with them without depicting a picture