Use of Nonfatal Force on and by Persons With Apparent Mental Disorder in Encounters With Police

Although a number of factors have been examined in relation to their effect on the prevalence and characteristics of police use of force, studies examining whether the person appeared to be mentally ill during the incident are lacking. Police recorded that 306 (7.2%) of the 4,267 people on whom they...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Criminal justice and behavior 2013-03, Vol.40 (3), p.321-337
Main Authors: Kesic, Dragana, Thomas, Stuart D.M., Ogloff, James R.P.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Criminal justice
Health services
Mental disorders
Mental health services
Police
Police training
Prevalence
Professional training
Psychiatric disorders
Verbal communication
Weapons
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Summary:Although a number of factors have been examined in relation to their effect on the prevalence and characteristics of police use of force, studies examining whether the person appeared to be mentally ill during the incident are lacking. Police recorded that 306 (7.2%) of the 4,267 people on whom they used force in Victoria, Australia, between 1995 and 2008 appeared to have a mental disorder. This group was more likely to threaten or use weapons on police and to have weapons used or threatened against them by police, as compared to those not deemed by police to be mentally disordered. Increased emphasis on communication and verbal deescalation tactics during police training and practice as well as proactive broader system-level changes should be implemented between police and mental health services to enable more effective management of these incidents to reduce the need to resort to increased use of force to resolve them.
ISSN:0093-8548
1552-3594
DOI:10.1177/0093854812474425