Premium
Is Dangerousness a Myth? Injuries and Police Encounters with People with Mental Illnesses
Author(s) -
Morabito Melissa Schaefer,
Socia Kelly M.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
criminology and public policy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.6
H-Index - 33
eISSN - 1745-9133
pISSN - 1538-6473
DOI - 10.1111/1745-9133.12127
Subject(s) - mental illness , stigma (botany) , psychiatry , assertion , psychology , mental health , suicide prevention , mythology , human factors and ergonomics , injury prevention , criminology , poison control , medicine , medical emergency , philosophy , theology , computer science , programming language
Research Summary This study examined all “use‐of‐force” reports collected by the Portland Police Bureau in Portland, Oregon, between 2008 and 2011, to determine whether their encounters with people with mental illnesses are more likely to result in injury to officers or subjects when force is used. Although several factors significantly predicted the likelihood of injury to either subjects or officers, mental illness was not one of them. Policy Implications Police consider interactions with people with mental illnesses to be extremely dangerous (Margarita, 1980). Our results question the accuracy of this belief. As such, this “dangerousness” assertion may result in unnecessary stigmatization that may prevent people with mental illnesses from accessing needed services (cf. Corrigan et al., 2005) as witnesses or victims of crime. Policies that reduce stigma may help increase police effectiveness. Furthermore, efforts should be made to increase the availability and accuracy of data on this issue.