Confluence of law enforcement, mental health, and race

Abstract

Disparities in victimization by law enforcement for both people of color and individuals with mental health disorders is gaining national attention following the deaths of George Floyd, Sandra Bland, TAmir Rice, and many others. Despite this, the discussion around the intersectionality of race, psychiatric illness, and law enforcement is still in its infancy, the purpose of this article is to discuss the confluence of race and psychiatric illness as vulnerabilities in various contacts with law enforcement in order to further highlight this issue and to ignite further needed research on this topic. Possible solutions such as police‐hiring practices, bias training, and trauma‐informed policing will be discussed.

Attitudes among the Australian public toward AI and CCTV in suicide prevention research: A mixed methods study.

“…The research is broadly acceptable, and even those with concerns about its impact on people of color and indigenous people agreed that the research is beneficial if it leads to saving lives. However, concerns about bias in AI and police response to mental health crises have been widely documented (Bailey et al, 2022; N. T. Lee, 2018; Ntoutsi et al, 2020), and the findings of this study are consistent with those concerns.…”

Race, Ethnicity and Basic Law Enforcement Training Non-Completion: A National-Level Examination of Police Academies

“…Activists and researchers have contributed to these efforts by showing tangible benefits to departments that diversify their sworn personnel. For example, Bailey et al (2022, p. 4) noted that “[h]iring individuals from the community will lead to police [officers] who have a greater understanding of the strengths and challenges of the neighborhood.” Further, in a series of experiments pairing citizens with police officers in Yonkers, New York, a racially diverse city whose police force is primarily White, 3 Peyton et al (2022, p. 7) reported “both current officers and community residents prefer hiring new officers from under-represented groups, independent of civil service exam performance and other criteria.”…”