Additinally Barr Analysis

As a whole, literature on the topic of mental illness in our country and specifically in our criminal justice system had a reoccurring theme. There are millions of individuals who suffer from mental illness but are improperly being handled through the criminal justice system. These individuals are deemed criminal just by their acts and their mental health state is not overly examine. Jails and prisons are being overcrowded. State prisons and jails are overpopulated anywhere from 15 to 32% (Spending Money in All the Wrong Places: Jails & Prisons).

Law enforcement interactions with the mentally ill community are increasing, due to a number of factors such as cuts on long-term psychiatric beds, improvements in treatments and the philosophy of integration (Adelman, 2003). Which leads to mentally ill people living in the community, which leads to increase crisis and police interaction because of insufficient funding. Existing community-based crisis response services are not well unified and are limited, especially in rural areas. General hospital-based emergency services can also be difficult to access because of bed reductions, and only offer treatment to those only that are seriously ill (e.g. be actively delusional or suicidal). As Eric Macnaughton states in his study BC Early

The recent increase in emergency 9-1-1 calls involving mentally ill persons has heightened the awareness of the Criminal Justice System. Across the nation, law enforcement encounters with mentally ill persons have become more frequent, and the use of deadly force against mentally ill persons has increased. Since the deinstitutionalization of the mental health system, law enforcement officials have been tasked with controlling deviant and sometimes criminal behavior of persons who suffer from mental illness. As a result, law enforcement agencies have implemented crisis intervention training (CIT) and diversion tactics due to the numerous challenges faced when serving the mentally ill. Major deficiencies in the mental health system and State legislations have hindered progressive efforts towards assisting mentally ill persons. With the dramatic consequences associated with untreated mental illness, it is certain that law enforcement officers will experience an encounter requiring knowledge, specialized training, and the ability to build collaborative partnerships.

In this article , the author Professor James Alan Fox discusses that it is an average of 9,289 people killed by someone with some type of mental health issue. Also, he speaks about the FBI’s crime reports between the years of 2007-2011. Statistics had shown that the U.S had an average of 13,700 homicides. He states that, if lives need to be saved, then the people that are making these deaths happen have to receive some type of treatment. Fox article is a reliable source because he discusses the failure of how the ones’ committing these crimes are still out here on the streets. He is a reliable source because he is a Professor at Northeastern University of Criminology, Law and Public Policy.

The problem not only lies with the mentally ill, but people already in incarceration. Doris James presents the recurring theme of insanity stating that “At midyear 2005 more than half of all prison and jail inmates had a mental health problem” (James 1). The answer for lawlessness does not begin with a cold, empty cell. Rather, governmental entities can begin with the realization that atrocity will continue unless inmates have the advantage of mental health treatment. A therapeutic system should be installed for the sake of the inmates that were not labeled “crazy.” The answer is not to train “hundreds of cops and sheriff’s deputies … which could more efficiently deploy police officers and others whose time is now too often monopolized tending to crisis for which they lack adequate training” (McKenna 2). Excuse me? That is why Freud invented psychology: to have psychologists. If police officers wanted to teach psychology to people, they would become psychologist on their

All of these people have the abiity to change this situation through compassion, voting, and creating new policy and awareness for people who suffer from mental health issues. Communities need to vote to allow funding to build a center to house people with mental health issues. Police officers need to be able to asses someone’s needs on the scene and transport them to the facility to be evaluated by medical personnel instead of a

There’s a nationwide crisis with the homeless who suffer from mental illness. On any night in January during the winter months in 2013, 610,042 people were experiencing homelessness in the United States. Including 394,698 people who were homeless in sheltered locations and 215,344 people were living in unsheltered locations. ("Facts on Homelessness", March 26, 2014). By January of 2015, the number has now been calculated at 236,084,298 people which is a large number of people living on the streets. When we analyze the big picture there are far more resources that could be offered then what is available today. When we break down the large number of those who are displaced in the “City of Brotherly Love” we must take into account that not

The United States Census Bureau (https://www.census.gov) lists the population of Philadelphia at roughly 1.22 million adults. If Cordner’s findings are accurate that means that there are approximately 61,000 adults with a serious mental illness living in Philadelphia. Cordner also found that in police departments that serve a population over 100,000, about 7% of all police contacts involve the mentally ill (para. 2). These mentally ill individuals that have contact with the police will be the target population for the

Many mentally ill are arrested and put in jails due to their bizarre behavior, such as sleeping in a cemetery or talking to people at a mall. Police use trespassing to remove these individuals from the street and disorderly conduct when no other charge is available. Mercy bookings are used by police to protect a mentally ill person if

Nowadays, the number of people in prison with a mental illness is about four times higher than that in the general population. This statistic is supported by a number of facts including that people with mental disabilities are reportedly not as financially stable as as those who do not have a mental disorder. They are also more likely to commit a larger amount of crimes of survival such as dining and dashing or stealing items from stores. Also, there are quite more people suffering from mental illnesses in the general population and people usually tolerate them less. For example, it is proven that if someone sees a person or is approached by someone shouting or displaying strange behavior they are more likely to contact the police (1).

With such a large amount of my patients suffering from exacerbations that could be managed with routine non-emergent treatment, I began to take interest in Public Health and the study of health equity. The intersection of health care and policing particularly interests me due to my experiences working with both the NYPD (New York Police Department) and the UWPD (University of Wisconsin Police Department). In NYC, psychiatric emergencies always warrant police involvement. Patients who have been denied access to regular psychiatric care and counseling, including many who

     Linda A. Teplin says that “police involvement with mentally ill persons is grounded in two common law principles: (1) The power and responsibility of the police to protect the safety and

This study found that most police acted in a just and fair manner except when using negative pressure like physical force, coercions, or threats. However, this study only measures the last twelve months of an individual’s life when instead it should measure life long police contact. Still, the results are similar to other studies and suggest that when police improve their quality of treatment and use discretion fairly, people with a serious mental illness are more likely to

We really do not know when mental patient starts to be classified as criminal. It might been around the time the federal government and State started to cutting fund for Mental illness The court did not have anywhere to send the mental patient and there in up in the criminal system. A Crisis involving the mental illness has been considered among the most dangerous in which a police office can respond. They are volatile unpredictable, and many times involve individuals who have lost their ability to think rationally. Handing cases involving mentally ill people can be a dangerous endeavor both for the person with whom the police come in contract, and for the police. According to official FBI Uniform Crime Report, during the period from 1997 to 2006 there were 1058 official assaulted in America and 13 feloniously killed while responding to calls involving mentally illness people (Harmening, 2014). Many, if not most people suffering a mental illness will react negatively to the presence of the police, and this reaction tends to cause a like reaction by the officers involved as they resort to their training and take a defensive posture for self-protection. As soon as each reaction is apparent, which is oftentimes immediate, then a tension builds that can cause the situation to escalate and become very volatile. The police are neither accustomed to nor trained to; de-escalate them in the midst of a tense situation. Traditional police training makes no distinction between sanity

1). Police officers are not being properly trained to deal with EDP, and it’s a great concern to society because police officers should be ready for any situation. This article does a great job in illustrating why police officers lack training and it is because, “there are no measures for police departments to use to determine officer attitudes toward dealing with individuals with mental illness, or even if officer attitudes improve as a result of mental health training” (p. 1). Even though some police officers receive a class in mental health issues, what is the probability that they will actually fully grasp this idea of mental illness in just one class session? Police departments are not focusing in training police officers to change their way of thought of EDP, which if they do not change their thinking then that is why police brutality occurs when dealing with EDP. Police officers will continue to treat an EDP as if he/she was just that, another person committing a crime. In the following article “Crime Scene” it discusses a situation where police officers that aren’t informed about mental health issues could have prevented a disaster. Another scholar argues in there writing “The Impact of Crisis Intervention Team”, “Without proper training and preparation, LEOs tend to feel and exhibit more anxiety than is