Law Enforcement Interactions With The Mentally Ill Community

Mental Illness has been prevalent all throughout our history from Isaac Newton to Abraham Lincoln to Sylvia Plath and so on. These illnesses can be as minor as a slight bipolar disorder or as severe as schizophrenia. In recent years, mental illnesses are becoming more prevalent in our criminal justice systems than anywhere else. Mental illness is becoming an association with crime and based on the information that has been found, this paper will attempt to further define the problem of mental illness within our criminal justice system and offer alternatives or insights as to how to possibly help with this problem.

Given the number of incarcerated inmates who suffer from some form of mental illness, there are growing concerns and questions in the medical field about treatment of the mentally ill in the prison system. When a person with a mental illness commits a crime or break the law, they are immediately taken to jail or sent off to prison instead of being evaluated and placed in a hospital or other mental health facility. “I have always wondered if the number of mentally ill inmates increased since deinstitutionalization” Since prison main focus is on the crimes inmates are incarcerated; the actual treatment needed for the mentally ill is secondary. Mentally ill prisoners on the surface may appear to be just difficult inmates depending on the

All three also emphasize five important lessons from this course. The first is the role stigma plays in the criminalization of mental health. Skeem et al. (2011) explain how the stigma surrounding mental health colors each interaction an offender, or potential offender, has with the legal and criminal justice systems. Victimization is another common theme. Victimization is a risk factor for violence, and mentally ill individuals are more likely to be victimized (Skeem et al., 2011). This cycle of victimization and violence must be dealt with in order to lower the number of MIO’s in the system. This course has also stressed the need for comprehensive services for MIO’s. The large number of environmental and social barriers facing this population means that a one-front treatment strategy may be less effective in reducing recidivism and improving an offender’s quality of life (Mueser et al., 2003). The GLM may be better for MIO’s because it recognizes this need. This course has reinforced the fact that MIO’s are not a homogenous group. This is a large justice system population with exceedingly complex needs, and service providers must take that into account. There is no one-size-fits-all treatment for the mentally ill. Finally, the readings and class discussions have emphasized the fallacy of the notion that mentally ill people are dangerous by nature. Studies indicate

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.

The system is broken, and I do not expect police to get the required training to become the first responders for mental health just to have to arrest the perpetrator again two days later. That is not fair for our police officers who are going to get the training. I think a big problem between police officers and people with mental health is the stigma society has created towards mental health. People especially police officers assume people with mental health are going to be violent and that is how police officers are trained to handle a situation. If someone is violent police immediately get prepared for the situation to escalate. Police officers may draw their guns to be prepared to do anything possible for the safety of the public, but I do not think that is always the right approach. Nurses in a hospital do not carry a gun, but in some cases they have patients who threaten them and the patient might have a weapon, but they do not have a way to defend themselves they have the training and knowledge on mental health to defuse the situation. I think we can train police to be able to defuse a situation. Police officers need to step away from the stigma on mental health to do

Mental illness is a rising issue in our country. The National Alliance on Mental Illness reports that 1 out of every 17 people in this country suffer from a mental illness (Pearson 2014). With this large of a number, we should expect that our law enforcement personnel understand how to deal with these individuals, correct? Wrong. As reported by Pearson (2014), half of the all those killed during a police encounter last year were dealing with some form of a mental illness. According to Reuland (2009), there have been two national policies put in place. However, these policies, or procedures, are how to identify someone who is mentally ill and what services to call. It does not specify the procedure of a mentally ill individual who is becoming violent. In my opinion, the current procedures are inadequate

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

Most frontline workers are volunteers that are trained and provide round the clock services through several agencies like the Red Cross and mobile crisis. Even though volunteers are available around the clock, there is a gap providing care for those that are mentally ill. A great number of the mentally ill and challenged people find a home incarcerated because of the lack of trained professionals. Those that suffer from mental illness do not receive proper care while incarcerated. This is only one example of the gap in services and the need to increase crisis interventions.

Melamed answers questions regarding mentally ill individuals that have committed crimes. There has recently been an increase in patients’ rights, which has caused stress throughout different communities. The public is concerned with safety and finds it difficult to accept that mentally ill individuals who commits a crime can simply just be hospitalized and discharged. This source mentions that forensic services are determined by the country and can differ. For example, in Greece, Italy and Portugal it may be handled by the Justice Department. Whereas in Germany and England, forensic services are determined by the Health Department. Melamed describes the different approaches when determining what to do with individuals that have committed crimes,

Police are not, and were not intended to be, trained mental health workers. However, there is a growing need for police officers to be able to recognize situations that involve Persons with Mental Illnesses (note; for the purpose of this essay, Persons with Mental Illnesses will be referred to as PMI), and respond accordingly in the best way possible. In Canada, between the years 1999 and 2009, there were roughly 139 fatal police shootings, which amount to roughly 12 deaths per year (1). As police officer’s primary responsibility is to preserve and protect life, use of force again PMI should only be used as an absolute last resort (2). Let it be shown that police officer interactions with citizens, whom are specifically suffering from mental

Further, research has been done specifically in the realm of supervision for the mentally ill offender. Dirks-Linhorst & Linhorst (2012), set out to determine what guidelines and polices should be in place to better assist mentally ill offenders to achieve effective monitoring to combat recidivism rates. In regards to community supervision, which most mentally ill offenders are on at one point or another, there are countless challenges that are faced by not only the offender, but the supervising staff. However, according to these researchers there are a number of things that supervising agencies can be doing to aid their mentally ill offenders in desisting from crime.

The article entitled Police Encounters Involving Citizens With Mental Illness: Use of Resources and Outcomes is a paper that studies 6,128 police interventions in Montreal, Québec, Canada. The main objective of the paper was to compare the characteristics of police interventions with individuals who had mental illness and those were not mentally ill. The motivation behind this hypothesis was that the authors had noted that there was little research done about the use of resources in police interventions with those with mental illness, although there was an abundance of research compiled about the arrest rate after police intervention of those with mental illness. The two things known about the use of intervention with those who are

When a crisis occurs it is important that it be handled as safely as possible. The less danger police can prevent the better. Subsequently, that cannot always happen, people can be injured in the process of de-escalating the crisis. This statement is especially true in regards to the mentally ill. When the offender is mentally ill they are volatile, unpredictable and can also fall short in thinking rationally. According to official FBI Uniform Crime Reports, during the period from 1997 to 2006, there were 1058 officers assaulted in America, and 13 feloniously killed while responding to calls involving mentally ill people (Harmening, William M. ,2014). This paper will discuss the different types of mental disorders such as thought, mood and anxiety disorders. To add this paper will discuss the problems these disorders cause for officers and what strategies should be used to combat these disorders in crises situations.

When a crisis occurs it is important that it be handled as safely as possible. The less danger police can prevent the better. Subsequently, that cannot always happen, people can be injured in the process of de-escalating the crisis. This statement is especially true in regards to the mentally ill. When the offender is mentally ill they are volatile, unpredictable and can also fall short in thinking rationally. According to official FBI Uniform Crime Reports, during the period from 1997 to 2006, there were 1058 officers assaulted in America, and 13 feloniously killed while responding to calls involving mentally ill people (Harmening, William M. ,2014). This paper will discuss the different types of mental disorders such as thought, mood and anxiety disorders. To add this paper will discuss the problems these disorders cause for officers and what strategies should be used to combat these disorders in crises situations.

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