Persons with Mental Illness in the Criminal Justice System: Police Interventions to Prevent Violence and Criminalization

Consumer experience of formal crisis‐response services and preferred methods of crisis intervention

“…This often results in lone police responses, despite their limited mental health training (Clifford ; Forchuk et al . ; Gur ; Lamb et al . ).…”

“…While mental health and policing staff can request each other's onsite support, each agency typically responds separately (Hollander et al 2012). This often results in lone police responses, despite their limited mental health training (Clifford 2010;Forchuk et al 2010;Gur 2010;Lamb et al 2004). In the present study, such an approach will be referred to as the Separate Response Model.…”

Police encounters among a community sample of children and youth accessing mental health services

“…These concerns are about the inappropriate use of force and physical restraints, and the criminalization of mental illness and of persons living with a mental illness (Corrigan, Watson, Byrne, & Davis, 2005;Fry, O'Riordan, & Geanellos, 2002;Green, 1997;Morabito et al, 2012;Perez, Leifman & Estrada, 2003;Watson, Angell, Morabit, & Robinson, 2008). Criminalization of mental illness is cited as a major form of structural stigma and discrimination in which adults with mental health issues, for a number of reasons including a lack of community services (Fisher, Silver, & Wolff, 2006), become more likely to be treated by the criminal justice system instead of the mental health system (Chaimowitz, 2012;Corrigan et al, 2005;Gur, 2010).…”

Police management of mental health crisis situations in the community: status quo, current gaps and future directions

“…This position is increasingly supported by a growing body of international research confirming the frequent contact between people experiencing mental illness and the police in a variety of contexts as perpetrators, victims and people in need of assistance (Deane et al 1999, Engel and Silver 2001, Ruiz and Miller 2004, Hartford et al 2005, Godfredson et al 2010, Gur 2010, Moore 2010. While the majority of these encounters can be considered perhaps mundane, and certainly procedural, some refer to situations where the person presents with apparent mental health symptoms and/or behaviours that suggest the possibility of an imminent risk to themselves or others.…”