The Challenge of Responding to People with Mental Illness: Police Officer Training and Special Programmes
| Author | Andrew Harris,Angela Smith,Arthur J. Lurigio |
| Published date | 01 December 2008 |
| Date | 01 December 2008 |
| DOI | 10.1350/pojo.2008.81.4.431 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
ARTHUR J. LURIGIO
Department of Criminal Justice, Department of Psychology,
Loyola University, Chicago
ANGELA SMITH
Department of Criminal Justice, Loyola University, Chicago
ANDREW HARRIS
Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology, University of
Massachusetts, Lowell
THE CHALLENGE OF
RESPONDING TO PEOPLE WITH
MENTAL ILLNESS: POLICE
OFFICER TRAINING AND SPECIAL
PROGRAMMES
The processing of people with serious mental illness (PWMI)
through the criminal justice system is widespread and often
occurs when mental health services are unavailable or difficult
to access. In such instances, police, court, and jail procedures
have become default mechanisms for handling criminal cases
that include mentally ill individuals, especially those who are
perceived as recalcitrant or dangerous. The current article
focuses on how PWMI affect police operations. The article is
divided into four sections. The first section discusses the
factors that have led to an influx of mentally ill individuals into
the criminal justice system. The second section describes
police contacts with PWMI and the limited options that
officers face when seeking to resolve, successfully, service
calls that involve the mentally ill. The third section examines
police training and specialised programmes that have been
implemented in order to help police officers respond more
effectively to the problems of the mentally ill. The final section
offers suggestions for improving police services for PWMI.
Keywords: criminalisation; crisis intervention teams;
emergency admission; mental illness; police services
The criminal justice system was never designed to solve the
complex and devastating problems of people with serious mental
illness (PWMI), particularly those afflicted with chronic brain
The Police Journal, Volume 81 (2008) 295
DOI: 10.1358/pojo.2008.81.4.431
disorders such as major depression, bipolar disorder, and schizo-
phrenia (American Psychiatric Association, 2007). As instru-
ments of social control and punishment, jails and prisons are
driven by ideologies and institutional imperatives antithetical to
those that operate in psychiatric hospitals and mental health
agencies. Nonetheless, the processing of PWMI through the
criminal justice system, known as the criminalisation of the
mentally ill, is widespread and often occurs when mental health
services are unavailable or difficult to access (Abramson, 1972;
Council of State Governments, 2002).
In such instances, police, court, and jail procedures have
become default mechanisms for handling criminal cases that
involve mentally ill individuals, especially those who are per-
ceived as recalcitrant or dangerous (Lurigio & Swartz, 2000).
Furthermore, serious mental illness and crime share many of the
same causes, correlates, and consequences; for example, poverty,
lack of educational and employment opportunities, and illicit
drug use are related to both (Draine, 2003; Draine et al., 2002).
Thus, PWMI are now a fast-growing segment of the ever-
increasing correctional population in the United States (Council
of State Governments, 2002).
The criminalisation of the mentally ill has drained criminal
justice resources, flooded court dockets and correctional case-
loads, and resulted in inadequate care for PWMI. In addition, the
symptoms of mental illness are frequently exacerbated by the
stressors associated with arrest, detention, and imprisonment
(Human Rights Watch, 2000; Pfeiffer, 2007). PWMI are present
at every stage in the criminal justice process: arrest, prosecution,
sentencing, and post-incarceration release. As a result, police
departments, courts, probation agencies, jails, and prisons have
all revamped their policies, procedures, and programmes in
response to the rise in the number of mentally ill offenders
(Lurigio & Swartz, 2000).
Focus and Structure of Article
This article focuses on the effects of PWMI on police operations.
The article is divided into four sections. The first section
discusses the factors that have led to the influx of mentally ill
individuals into the criminal justice system. The second section
describes police contacts with PWMI and the limited options that
officers face when seeking to resolve service calls that include
the mentally ill. The third section examines police training and
specialised programmes that have been implemented in order to
help police officers respond to the problems of the mentally ill.
296 The Police Journal, Volume 81 (2008)
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