Subject: | Mental health |
Topic: | Mental health and criminal justice |
Year: | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 |
A report examined the experiences of young people with mental health needs in the criminal justice system in England and noted that little had changed over the past 20 years, despite changes in policy and legislation. It said that young people waited too long for limited services, with increased risk of (re)offending if they self-medicated with alcohol or drugs. Much available support centred around medication and young people often did not receive medication reviews, or further support or intervention. Recommendations included: the implementation of existing strategy; training; lead professionals to monitor actively a young person's case needs; joint commissioning across offender mental health and local mental health services to ensure 'joined up services'; targeted commissioning for at risk 16-19 year olds; and a single point of access to services.
Source: Sarah Campbell and Stephen Abbott, Same Old...: The experiences of young offenders with mental health needs, YoungMinds
Links: Report | YoungMinds press release
Date: 2013-Dec
A study found that people with mental health problems were more likely to be a victim of crime than the general population, more likely to be a victim of assault, and more likely to be a repeat victim. In addition, the study found that people with mental health problems were less likely to be satisfied with the service they received from within the criminal justice system.
Source: Bridget Pettitt, Sian Greenhead, Hind Khalifeh, Vari Drennan, Tina Hart, Jo Hogg, Rohan Borschmann, Emma Mamo, and Paul Moran, At Risk, Yet Dismissed: The criminal victimisation of people with mental health problems, Victim Support/Mind
Links: Report | Mind press release | Victim Support press release | BBC report | ACPO press release | Turning Point press release | CMH press release
Date: 2013-Oct
An article examined policing and the use of restraint in mental health settings. People with mental health problems were held in police custody more often than they should be, partly due to failures in care at an earlier stage for people approaching crisis. Restraint was used too often in some in-patient settings, although face down restraint had been phased out altogether in some areas.
Source: Sophie Corlett, 'Policy watch: the rights of those with mental health problems in acute care', Mental Health and Social Inclusion, Volume 17 Number 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Oct
A briefing examined best practice provision of those services working with black and minority-ethnic communities at critical points of the criminal justice pathway. The report found that links between the criminal justice system and community-based groups were most essential to ensure people from black and minority-ethnic communities were offered effective mental health support in the criminal justice system. Although some services were making excellent progress in this area, there was much room for other services and commissioners to build on examples of existing good practice.
Source: The Bradley Commission Briefing 1: Black and minority ethnic communities, mental health and criminal justice, Centre for Mental Health
Links: Briefing
Date: 2013-Oct
A new book examined the management of substance misuse (including alcohol) and mental health problems in the criminal justice system.
Source: Aaron Pycroft and Suzie Clift (eds), Risk and Rehabilitation: Management and treatment of substance misuse and mental health, Policy Press
Links: Summary
Date: 2013-Sep
A briefing paper said that community groups were key to engaging black and minority-ethnic (BME) groups that were disproportionately represented in both mental healthcare and the criminal justice system. BME groups made up 25 per cent of the prison population, but just 11 per cent of the general population. They were also more likely to be diagnosed with a serious mental illness, such as schizophrenia, than their white counterparts.
Source: Anna Saunders, Deryck Browne, and Graham Durcan, Black and Minority Ethnic Communities, Mental Health and Criminal Justice, Centre for Mental Health
Links: Briefing | CMH press release
Date: 2013-Sep
A joint inspectorate report said that too many mentally ill people were being held in police cells, and called for a rethink of how powers were used to detain people in a 'place of safety'. Existing guidance said that the police should take mentally ill people to a hospital or similar location in all but exceptional circumstances: but detention in police cells was 'far from exceptional'. Some of those who were detained were as young as 14.
Source: A Criminal Use of Police Cells? The use of police custody as a place of safety for people with mental health needs, HM Inspectorate of Constabulary/HM Inspectorate of Prisons/Care Quality Commission/Healthcare Inspectorate Wales
Links: Report | HMIC press release | ACPO press release | CMH press release | Police Federation press release | BBC report | Guardian report | Telegraph report
Date: 2013-Jun
The report of an independent commission reviewed the work of the Metropolitan Police Service with regard to people who had died or been seriously injured following police contact or in police custody and where mental health was, or was perceived to be, a key issue. It made 28 separate recommendations designed to improve police procedures and inter-agency working.
Source: Independent Commission on Mental Health and Policing: Report, Independent Commission on Mental Health and Policing
Links: Report | Summary | CSW press release | MHN press release | Mind press release | Guardian report
Date: 2013-May
A briefing paper examined barriers to the effective use by the courts of the mental health treatment requirement (MHTR) within community orders. The MHTR had unfulfilled potential to offer offenders with mental health problems the option of a sentence in the community that would enable them to engage with appropriate treatment and support. Wider use of the MHTR could result in improved health outcomes and reduced reoffending, cutting the costs of crime for the wider community.
Source: Gael Scott and Stephen Moffatt, The Mental Health Treatment Requirement: Realising a better future, Centre for Mental Health
Links: Briefing
Date: 2013-Feb