Southwest Center for Equal Justice
Making the promise of equality a reality
CRIMINALIZATION OF MENTAL ILLNESS
"Fifty years of failed mental health policy have placed law enforcement on the front lines of mental illness crisis response and turned jails and prisons into the new asylums." Treatment Advocacy Center
Criminalization of Mental Illness in Arizona
"Everyone loses when we criminalize a person with a mental illness. People with mental illnesses experience trauma and mental health treatment is rarely adequate in jail or prison. In addition, they find it more difficult to get a job and find housing when they have a criminal record. Families suffer when their loved ones are imprisoned. Law enforcement resources are diverted when people with mental illnesses are arrested and tax dollars are misspent."
Arizona Mental Health Fact Sheet
The number of people living with mental illness in America’s jails is alarmingly high. In 44 out of 50 states, prisons and jails hold more individuals with serious mental illness than the largest state hospital. In local jails, 64% of people experience symptoms of a mental health condition, which represents over 7 million people. Additionally, 17% of jail inmates experience a serious mental illness.
Across the country, innocent people are cycling through “the system” with repeated arrests, and with a higher likelihood of being incarcerated than hospitalized, simply because they experience a mental health condition. There is an urgent need to address the gaps in the mental health and criminal justice systems. This is not simply an issue of societal compassion—it is a fundamental issue of equity and justice.
John P. Docherty, M.D., "Creating New Hope for Mental Illness and the Criminal Justice System" (10/20/2017, NAMI)
NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness)
In a mental health crisis, people are more likely to encounter police than get medical help. As a result, 2 million people with mental illness are booked into jails each year. Nearly 15% of men and 30% of women booked into jails have a serious mental health condition.
The vast majority of the individuals are not violent criminals—most people in jails are have not yet gone to trial, so they are not yet convicted of a crime. The rest are serving short sentences for minor crimes.