According to The Sentencing Project, there are 2.2 million people incarcerated in the United States of America (Criminal Justice). Over the last 40 years, incarceration rates have gone up 500% (Criminal Justice). Mass incarceration is a reality in the United States of America. Some of the explanations for our nation’s high incarceration rate include law enforcement and policies that focus on tough punishments, longer sentencing, and the criminalization of mental illness.
People with mental illness have long been part of a societal shuffle in and out of one type of institution or another. As it began in 1955, deinstitutionalization came about as an effort to keep people with mental illness out of psychiatric hospitals to then offer community-based interventions (Deinstitutionalization). Institutionalization in psychiatric hospitals has long been thought of as an inhumane caging up of human beings. I’m not a fan of institutionalizing anyone, personally. As people were removed from psychiatric hospitals, however, communities were ill-prepared to offer vital treatment, supports and interventions. Fast forward to present day, 2019 and people with mental illness are now being institutionalized in jails and prisons.
The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) notes that during a mental illness crisis, people are more likely to be met with police intervention than mental health intervention (NAMI). In the era of mass incarceration, in the United States of America, 2 million people with mental illness have been incarcerated (NAMI).
As with many systems in our society, the criminal justice system is complex. It consists of a web of legal and social institutions whose purpose it is to enforce criminal laws. Prior to being charged and incarcerated, individuals first interact with law enforcement officers. During these interactions, people with mental illness are 16 times more likely to be killed by law enforcement officers than people without mental illness (Fuller, Doris, et al). Law enforcement officers are often faced with situations that they are not adequately trained or supported to navigate. Vermette, Pinals and Applebaum (2005) explains that outside of mental health professionals, law enforcement officers interact with people facing mental health crisis the most. Their study also revealed that law enforcement officers routinely express interest in receiving training to help them work through these crises.
A common intervention to help law enforcement officers respond to mental health crises has been the development of Crisis Intervention Teams (CIT) which has been around since 1988 (Watson & Fulambarker, 2012). CIT is a partnership between law enforcement, community and local mental health agencies. Watson, Ottati & Morabito (2010) noted that while implementation of CIT did not directly affect arrests, it was a factor in helping officers recognize the need to refer individuals to mental health services. Referring people to mental health services can reduce the number of individuals being incarcerated and direct people to much needed mental health supports. The collaboration of mental health, community and law enforcement is an integral part of society.
Addressing the criminalization of mental illness can eventually help reduce one part of the mass incarceration epidemic. So far, around 2,700 communities across America have implemented CIT programs but that number is not enough (NAMI). We still see many communities in need of interventions. One of the limitations of CIT programs has been the time it takes to provide in-class training to officers and the costs associated with training.
In 2015, an extended version of the CIT program was developed by the Albuquerque Police Department (Crisanti, Earheart, Rosenbaum, Tinney & Duhigg, 2018). The program, CIT ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) goes above and beyond the CIT program and includes a model of continuing education using videoconferencing technology to ensure availability and access to departments nationwide. As a sustainable effort, it offers weekly programs and includes question and answer sessions which can greatly improve understanding and retention of information. This program also offers guidance to help jurisdictions develop and improve their own local policies (CIT ECHO). The CIT ECHO website offers care cards for individuals with disabilities, a blog, podcasts and a variety of information on important mental health topics.
Unfortunately, CIT ECHO was only funded for a period of three years by grants from the Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program, Bureau of Justice Assistance and the U.S. Department of Justice and that funding has run out. Boetel (2019) described the program as having had a big impact on the way law enforcement interacts with mental health crises. In an article, he explained that upwards of 20% of law enforcement officers believed force was required to maintain officer safety prior to participating in CIT ECHO, however, after training participation only about 3% of officers maintained that belief. Programs such as these are vital for all communities. Not only can they help reduce conflict between individuals experiencing mental health crises and law enforcement officers, but they can provide officers with the support they need to cope with difficult real-time situations in a safe manner.
Mass incarceration remains a problem in the United States. According to Schneider, Gruman & Coutts (2012), some of the goals of a prison are to remove criminals from the general population to protect society from individuals who are threats, to punish these individuals and to reform individuals for re-entry into society when deemed applicable. Criminalizing mental illness only leads to more people being incarcerated instead of receiving much needed intervention, support and treatment. Once a person has an arrest record and has been incarcerated, their ability to obtain employment, housing or any assistance to reintegrate into society and function is reduced or in some cases permanently lost. This is not how to protect society. It’s punishment for having a stigmatized illness and it’s not reformation of any kind when a person with an illness ends up worse after incarceration.
We have seen the benefit of interventions such as CIT and CIT ECHO, but we are still only touching the surface of possibilities with such interventions. In a span of a few decades we went from CIT to CIT ECHO with promising results. While funding for the CIT ECHO program has run out, it is still actively running through the amazing work of volunteers. Interventions such as CIT and CIT ECHO are great examples of applied social psychology being implemented in law enforcement and the criminal justice system. These interventions can help improve group dynamics between law enforcement and communities and reduce biases around mental illness. Providing officers, as first responders, the tools they need to effectively work with people facing mental health crises can play a vital role in helping end an aspect of mass incarceration.
References:
Boetel, Ryan. (2019) “Police Learn to Deal with Mentally Ill Residents.” Albuquerque Journal, Albuquerque Journal, www.abqjournal.com/1276467/police-learn-to-deal-with-mentally-ill-residents.html.
“CIT ECHO.” Crisis Intervention Team, www.gocit.org/cit-knowledge-network.html.
“Criminal Justice Facts.” The Sentencing Project, www.sentencingproject.org/criminal-justice-facts/.
Crisanti, Annette S., et al. “Beyond Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) Classroom Training: Videoconference Continuing Education for Law Enforcement.” International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, vol. 62, 2019, pp. 104–110., doi:10.1016/j.ijlp.2018.12.003.
“Deinstitutionalization: A Psychiatric ‘Titanic.’” PBS/Frontline, Public Broadcasting Service, www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/asylums/special/excerpt.html.
Fuller, Doris, et al. “Overlooked in the Undercounted THE ROLE OF MENTAL ILLNESS IN FATAL LAW ENFORCEMENT ENCOUNTERS.” Treatment Advocacy Center, doi:10.3897/bdj.4.e7720.figure2f.
“NAMI.” NAMI: National Alliance on Mental Illness, www.nami.org/learn-more/public-policy/jailing-people-with-mental-illness.
Pennsylvania State University World Campus (2019). PSYCH 424 Lesson 8: The Legal System/Criminal Justice Retrieved from https://psu.instructure.com/courses/1973019/modules/items/25635712
Schneider, F. W., Gruman, J. A., & Coutts, L. M. (2012). Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems. Los Angeles: Sage.
Vermette HS, Pinals DA, Appelbaum PS: Mental health training for law enforcement professionals. J Am Acad Psychiatry Law 33:42–6, 2005
Watson, A. C., & Fulambarker, A. J. (2012). The Crisis Intervention Team Model of Police Response to Mental Health Crises: A Primer for Mental Health Practitioners. Best practices in mental health, 8(2), 71.
Watson, A.C., Ottati, V.C., Morabito, M. et al. Adm Policy Mental Health (2010) 37: 302. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10488-009-0236-9
Incarceration of the mentally ill is definitely a problem in our society. Training police officers in intervention strategies would definitely help alleviate this problem. Several years back, there was a local news story about a police officer shooting a young man who was brandishing a squirt gun. It turns out the young man was severely mentally ill and had been reported to the police. The police came when neighbors called to report this young man and instead of working to diffuse the situation, the police just shot him. If there had been training provided to these police officers on diffusing a situation and working with someone who is mentally ill, the young man may still be alive today.
You mention that the costs of implementing CIT programs limits their implementation. I found this interesting as it seems people would be eager to fund these programs in hopes of reducing arrest rates. Mass incarceration can cost the U.S. billions of dollars each year, so reducing the prison population would be beneficial. It seems like funneling money into training officers in CIT programs would be the logical solution. Implementing CIT programs would probably ultimately cost less than incarcerating all the individuals with mental health issues who are arrested. It could also be the beginning of a shift towards rehabilitation instead of punishment. This shift would help end mass incarceration and could help many individuals become productive members of society instead of reoffending criminals.
Great post! I have never thought about how police officers deal with mentally ill people the most because they are the ones who attend the scene, whether it is potential homicide, suicide, or just acting out of the ordinary. Maybe some time in the future psychology classes will be a requirement for law enforcement in order to get their degrees. Therefore, they can have the proper training on how to handle and what to do in certain situations with people acting irrationally. This type of training could even come in handy with people under the influence or intoxicated. “Approximately 10 percent of police calls involve a person with mental illness, making police the nation’s de facto first responders to mental health crises”(Hoffman, E. 2018). “More than 42 million American adults are affected by mental illnesses every year. Of those, two million will be jailed (Hoffman, E. 2018). When I read this statistic it was shocking and sad. Something needs to be done in order to make sure this doesn’t keep happening.
Most of the time our society over looks people with a mental illness and some people don’t even believe in an idea of a mental illness even exists. Don’t get me wrong everyone should be treated fairly and appropriately in the judicial system. If officers got the appropriate education about mental health awareness it could improve the entire judicial system. For example, It could potentially help prevent suicides if a officer needs to convince someone to climb down, convince someone to put down a weapon, etc… Also if someone gets arrested they should be analyzed by psychiatrist to see if they need to be put on medication to help control their behaviors or impulses. This could help improve the hostility of the jail environment between inmates as well if the proper people received medications who desperately needed it.
A program called Mental Health First Aid for Public Safety was created to help address these issues with police officers handling people with mental illnesses. It “is an actionable public safety training program that gives police officers a simple, effective way to intervene during any mental health crisis, from an immediate crisis that endangers the public or the officer to non-crisis situations, like approaching someone who is exhibiting symptoms of a mental illness or overdose”(Hoffman, E. 2018). I hope this program will be used by everyone in the police force and in the future.
Works Cited
Hoffman, E. (2018, February 22). Police Need More Mental Health Training. Retrieved March 3, 2019, from https://www.mentalhealthfirstaid.org/2018/02/police-need-mental-health-training/
Hello,
I am very happy to see law enforcement express interest in getting educated on this matter. This shows that there is indeed a problem, and people are willing to educate themselves to avoid making these problems.
I believe that individuals with mental illnesses should not be put in prison, because this can lead to further making the person worse, and by not addressing the underlying issue, the person might never get the help they need, which they could have gotten if the prisons had the right programs to help these individuals, furthermore not having the person go to jail, but rather a space where they can get the right help they need.
But this might also lead to another issue on hand–how can you ensure that the person being charged with a crime is not attempting to be diagnosed with a mental disorder to avoid imprisonment?