Shift in Care: Law Enforcement Agents Bear Increased Responsibility

• NCJ Number: 190822
• Journal: Community Links Volume: 8 Issue: 2 Dated: June 2001 Pages: 3-5
• Author(s): Mary Zdanowicz
• Date Published: June 2001
• Length: 3 pages
• Sale Source: NCJRS Photocopy Services
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Issue Overview
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

After providing an overview of the problem posed for the police in their encounters with untreated mentally ill persons, this article describes programs and suggests reforms designed to improve services for the mentally ill.

Abstract

Several factors have contributed to the expansion of police responsibility for the untreated mentally ill. The initial effort to move individuals from State psychiatric hospitals to the community during the 1960's to 1980's failed to invest adequately in community mental health services. While the population of State psychiatric hospitals has steadily declined, there has been a significant increase in the number of individuals with mental illness who are incarcerated. Legal reforms in the 1970's also contributed significantly to the criminalization of people with mental illness. Treatment laws across the country were changed to require that an individual be a danger to self or other before they can be treated involuntarily. Police are not only called when a person's mental condition deteriorates to dangerous levels, but they are also called when a person with mental illness is displaying disruptive symptoms of mental illness; the mental health system, however, cannot respond until the person is considered dangerous or voluntarily seeks mental health services. One effort to improve the community's response to mentally ill persons in the community is Florida's Partners in Crisis, which has brought criminal justice professionals, mental health professionals, and mentally ill persons and their families together in a partnership to reform State policies and laws to ensure mental health services for those who need it most. One way to reduce encounters between police and the mentally ill is to change restrictive State laws that prevent effective referrals for mental illness treatment before a person becomes a danger to self or others. Enacting and using standards based on the need-for-treatment allows for intervention before tragedies occur.