What is the nature and extent of the mental illness problem vis-a-vis the criminal justice system, and how can police programs such as CIT attempt to cope with it?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

The criminal justice system is essentially the primary mental health system in the country. At the front end of the problem, an estimated 20 to 40 percent of police calls for service involve mentally ill persons, while an estimated 7 percent of police contacts in jurisdictions with 100,000 or more people involve the mentally ill. About 90% of patrol officers have at least one encounter with a mentally ill person in crisis each month, and officers average about six such encounters per month. On the back end, America’s jails and prisons have been termed the “new asylums” because of the number of mentally ill they house. Researchers have found that more than half the inmates in jails and state prisons are mentally ill.

Crisis Intervention Training/Teams (CIT) is a program where officers learn to approach mentally ill suspects differently, using body language and voice commands to de-escalate situations and to ease emotionally disturbed persons into compliance and safety. Officers are also trained to know the various diversionary options in their jurisdiction – where to admit such people into mental health/medical facilities rather than taking them to jail.