The Crime Report (https://thecrimereport.org/category/mental-health/)
A study released June 22 by the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) revealed that 14 percent of state and federal prisoners and 26 percent of jail inmates reported experiences that met the threshold for serious psychological distress (SPD).
Joshua Barre, 29, was killed to prevent him from entering a convenience store with two butcher knives. “We’re asking police officers … to do the job ideally that trained mental health professionals should be doing,” said Ron Honberg of the National Alliance for Mental Illness.
A year before a New York police sergeant shot and killed Deborah Danner, a bat-wielding woman with schizophrenia, the city’s police department began giving officers specialized training on how to handle the mentally ill. The sergeant, who was charged this week with murder, hadn’t received it.
Mental health courts can offer alternatives to prison for individuals caught in the criminal justice system. The story of one Texas young man shows what happens when they’re not available.
The rate of suicide among Chicago police officers is as much as 60 percent above the national average. Critics say the problem has been exacerbated by a lack of mental health resources, with just three clinicians serving 12,500 sworn officers and their families.
Survey finds that 45 percent of mentally ill people who had contact with police said the situation deteriorated after officers arrived. The city has created two crisis-intervention teams to deal with mental health calls.
State joins the Council of State Governments Justice Center’s Stepping up Initiative, which will try to address the issues that land mentally ill people in jail and prison.
The president signed a bill passed by Congress overturning a requirement that the Social Security Administration report the records of some mentally ill beneficiaries to the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System. The rule was a response to the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre.
A conversation with a psychiatrist is traditionally given the same status of “privilege” as a conversation with a lawyer, a physician or a priest–except when there is a specific threat. But should doctors take steps to protect someone that a patient hasn’t overtly threatened?
The Virginia-based Treatment Advocacy Center says its “game-changing” plan could sharply cut the waiting time for mentally ill people behind bars to obtain treatment and resolve their cases.