ABSTRACT
Grounded in the sciences of sociology, psychiatry, and criminology, deviance was at one time considered in terms of individual traits versus societal norms; at another it became an inquiry into 'madness' or 'badness'; and, at still another, it was formed in the relationship between criminal behaviour and mental disorder. The relationship between mental disorder and crime has long been the focus of scientific and philosophical inquiry which involves several dimensions. The first dimension involves two social processes: namely, the psychiatrisation of crime and the criminalisation of mental disorder. In the former process, professional power fuses with social values to legitimise the application of a medical model on offenders. This involves a complex interplay of analytical proceedings, theoretical applications, and the construction of medical discourse pertaining to 'health careers' of criminalised conduct. The relationship between criminal behaviour and mental disorder involves further medicalisation, with the shifting focus of the medical 'gaze' penetrating the index offence and scene of crime.
