Peer Review

Jails: America's Mental Hospitals

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Reviewed:: Dec 6, 2011 by Criminal Justice

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Content Quality:

Effectiveness:

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Overview:: This material discusses the dilemma of maintaining the mentally ill in jail and prison facilities and the need for punishment and treatment. It provides case studies of a few individuals that have mental illnesses and psychosis and discusses alternatives to punishment and treating those that are mentally ill. This audio and text material provide information that could be utilized in courses that focus on sociology, law enforcement, punishment,and social control. The free resource also connects to multiple audio and text materials that provides access to American Record Works archives and podcasts. The section, Jails: America's Mental Hospitals, is part of the larger presentation by American RadioWorks titled, Jailing the Mentally Ill.
Type of Material:: Presentation
Recommended Uses:: Lecture/discussion presentations (other in-class presentations are appropriate), homework, and research on American corrections (local corrections)
Technical Requirements:: Computer with sound capabilities, browser, software that can play MP3 files such as RealPlayer or Windows Media Player
Identify Major Learning Goals:: The learner will develop a better understanding of the needs of the mentally ill, the dilemma of treatment for the mentally ill, the importance of balancing punishment with treatment, the inability of corrections and law enforcement to diagnose and treat mental illness, and the difficulty of understanding how to manage the mentally ill within correctional facilities.
Target Student Population:: Lower or upper division undergraduate students focused on the following: corrections, law enforcement, medical sociology, sociology, deviance and crime, social control and nursing/medical. Graduate level students studying criminal justice with an emphasis on corrections
Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:: NA

Content Quality

Rating:
Strengths:: • Content is valid, accurate, reliable, and supported by appropriate case studies • Accurately depicts the plight of the mentally ill within the penal system • Current, up to date and covers core concepts within corrections and criminal justice • Material is not a pre-requisite for understanding more difficult material, but is a valuable supplement to understanding core components • Each section is presented in both text and audio and provides specific examples that enhance the material being presented. • The larger site, Jailing the Mentally Ill, provides additional useful material including a photo gallery, an examination of the insanity defense, general statistics related ton the mentally ill in jails, and a short list of relevant resources.
Concerns:: The material being presented may be dated since it was originally developed in 2000. there is no indication that the material has been updated or revised over time.

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool

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Strengths:: • Facilitates learning through descriptive case studies, particularly within the audio clip • Concepts are illustrated with clarity, focus, and organization • More effective when the student views the text and listens to the audio as the learning experience becomes richer • It will engage the learner with the illustrative case studies that are presented • Provides strong, appropriate examples of core concepts and engages multiple learning styles • Several of the sections include links to material presented in other areas of the site, Jailing the Mentally Ill. • Students utilizing the site(s) for assignments will find the material easy to understand and access to the audio files is simple as long as the appropriate software is available on the student's computer.

Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty

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Strengths:: • Presented in a familiar format and allows for the audio clip to be recorded • Easy to navigate with forward/back buttons • Is self contained, no instructions are necessary • Presentation and audio is clearly designed and offers no distractions to the learning objectives • Several of the pages include at least one photograph but the larger site (Jailing the Mentally Ill) provides an interesting picture on the main page and the photo gallery emphasizes the overall subject matter being presented.
Concerns:: The only concerns here are that the audio and text do not exactly match so if a student is listening to the audio and reading the text, they will not match up. They are similar but not exact.

Other Issues and Comments:: It is recommended that the review include references to the primary material under the heading of "Jailing the Mentally Ill" from which one can access the material "Jails: America's Mental Hospital."
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