THE MENTALLY ILL AND THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

Mentally Ill and the Criminal Justice System

Table of Contents

Table of Contents2

Abstract3

Introduction4

Networking as a Solution6

Los Angeles: The Memorandum and the Civil Law9

The legislative background10

The role of the Department of Mental Health11

Involvement of the police12

Birmingham? Alabama: Civilian Social Workers Join the Police Department14

Core Networking Principles15

Use of Forma! Interagency Agreements16

Involvement of All Pertinent Parties17

Providing Mutual Benefits18

Funding: luxury or necessity?20

Does Networking Work21

Conclusion22

Abstract

The public repeatedly calls on law enforcement officers for emergency assistance with the mentally ill because police officers and deputy sheriffs provide free? around-the-clock service and are required responding. However? law enforcement agencies are typically ill equipped to handle this population. On the one hand? arrest is usually an inappropriate disposition. On the other hand? mental health facilities frequently refuse to accept police referrals due to lack of bed space. As a result? police often lose substantial time and experience considerable frustration trying to resolve incidents involving this population. Each mental health facility? in turn? can expect law enforcement officers to refer only those types of mentally ill persons whom the staff are qualified to assist; at the same time? facility staff can obtain prompt help from officers in emergencies involving dangerous clients. At the least? the mentally ill benefit by avoiding unnecessary involvement with the criminal justice system; at best? they receive assistance from mental health professionals to begin to solve their problems.

Mentally Ill and the Criminal Justice System

Introduction

Two police officers respond to a call about a man in a housing project who is shouting obscenities and throwing rocks at several children he says are trying to kill him with laser beams. With some difficulty the officers persuade the terrified man to drop the stones still in his hands and let them drive him to a hospital for help. However after the two-hour wait to be seen in the overcrowded emergency ward the officers arc told by the medical staff that the man cannot be committed involuntarily because he docs not pose a substantial risk to himself or others; in any case. All the beds for psychiatric patients are filled. The officers take the man back to his apartment building. The public repeatedly calls on law enforcement officers for assistance with people who are mentally ill because police officers and deputy sheriffs alone combine free around the-clock service with unique mobility a legal obligation to respond and (within certain limits) legal authority to detain. Eight percent of 1.072 police encounters in one Midwestern police department involved dealing with mentally ill persons-nearly seventeen percent of whom were arrested (Teplin. 1984). In 1984 Los Angeles police officers spent approximately 20.000 hours every twenty-eight days responding to incidents involving the mentally ill (De Cuir ? 1987).

In recent years demands on the police to handle this population have increased as a result of more stringent commitment laws which left many disturbed people on the streets. In addition the de institutionalization policies of the 1960s and 1970s resulted in the release of hundreds of thousands of psychiatric patients from ...