Physicians for Criminal Justice Reform CORE ISSUE: Decriminalization of Mental Illness and Addictive Disorders.
A recent report entitled Overlooked in the Undercounted: The Role of Mental Illness in Fatal Law Enforcement Encounters highlights the prevalence of fatal police encounters among individuals with mental illness, and makes recommendations for criminal justice reform.
“By all accounts – official and unofficial – a minimum of 1 in 4 fatal police encounters ends the life of an individual with severe mental illness. At this rate, the risk of being killed during a police incident is 16 times greater for individuals with untreated mental illness than for other civilians approached or stopped by officers.”
Recommendations for systemic change include:
- TREAT THE UNTREATED.
- ACCURATELY COUNT AND REPORT the number of fatal police encounters.
- ACCURATELY COUNT AND REPORT all incidents involving use of deadly force by law enforcement.
- SYSTEMATICALLY IDENTIFY the role of mental illness in fatal police shootings.
If you would like to join Physicians for Criminal Justice Reform in supporting these recommendations, CLICK HERE.