“I don’t want people to think I’m a criminal”: Calling for more compassionate policing in child and youth mental health

Abstract

In this paper, we present the outcomes of a narrative study of thirteen interviews with six child and youth mental health practitioners and seven caregivers with a child between 12 and 24 years old involved with the mental health system and with a history of police involvement. The focus of the interviews was the how young people involved with the mental health system and their caregivers had experienced police encounters. Two main categories of themes emerged. Presented here are the outcomes in terms of the reasons for and nature of the police encounters. Across the interviews, police services were accessed primarily for support to deescalate physical or verbal situations involving a distressed child. As two subcategories, police encounters were described as negative and associated with stigma and criminalization, while positive encounters were associated with the appropriate use of police authority. A call is made for more compassionate policing.

A call for de-policing crisis responses: Distressed children and youth caught between the mental health and police systems

“…Similar to adults, the main reasons for police involvement were: for support to de-escalate a highly charged verbal or physical situation involving a distressed child; because of risks or threats of harm to self and/or others, in particular to parents and siblings; due to concerns related to a child's behaviour in the community, such as property damage and shoplifting; and for physical interventions when restraints or transports to hospital were required because of suicide threats or attempts (Liegghio & Jaswal, 2015;Liegghio, 2017;Liegghio et al, 2017;Liegghio et al, 2020). In most instances, encounters with police were described as helpful for de-escalating conflict situations but unhelpful as a mental health intervention, because of the associated stigmatization, criminalization, and psychiatrization of the child, caregivers, and family (Liegghio, 2017;Liegghio, et al, 2020).…”

“…Criminalization is cited as a major form of structural or institutional discrimination for psychiatrized adults (Chaimowitz, 2012;Corrigan et al, 2005;Gur, 2010). For children and youth, criminalization is also beginning to emerge as a form of institutional discrimination in which young people experiencing psychiatric issues are dealt with by the police and the criminal justice systems rather than the mental health system (Liegghio & Jaswal, 2015;Liegghio et al, 2017;Liegghio et al, 2020). In the adult sector, reliance on police for mental health support has evolved over time.…”

“…Two main categories of themes emerged from the interviews. Reported elsewhere, one category described the reasons and nature of the encounters with police and police services (see Liegghio et al, 2020). Generally, police services were accessed for support to de-escalate a highconflict verbal or physical situation with a distressed child, and when police were accessed, the encounters were most often described as negative and resulted in experiences of stigma and criminalization.…”

“…According to the perspectives of mental health practitioners and caregivers, as reported elsewhere (refer to Liegghio et al, 2020), police services were most often accessed for support to de-escalate high-conflict physical, verbal, or emotionally charged situations involving a distressed child or youth. Police were called not only by parents and youth themselves but also by mental health practitioners working in counselling, residential, or drop-in centres.…”

“…A potential result was unmet expectations and fear of police related to threats of being charged or the actual laying of charges in subsequent calls, thus marking the young person as "criminal." Reported in an earlier issue of this journal, concerns about being perceived or treated as a criminal are an example of experiences that mark young people's encounters with police as negative and stigmatizing (Liegghio, et al, 2020).…”