scholarly journals Do police killings of unarmed persons really have spillover effects? Reanalyzing Bor et al. (2018)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justin Nix ◽  
M. James Lozada
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
General Population ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Black Americans ◽  
Spillover Effects ◽  
Black American ◽  
Police Violence ◽  
Crowdsourced Data

We reevaluate the claim from Bor et al. (2018: 302) that “police killings of unarmed black Americans have effects on mental health among black American adults in the general population.” The Mapping Police Violence data used by the authors includes 91 incidents involving black decedents who were either (1) not killed by police officers in the line of duty or (2) armed when killed. These incidents should have been removed or recoded prior to analysis. Correctly recoding these incidents decreased in magnitude all of the reported coefficients, and, more importantly, eliminated the reported statistically significant effect of exposure to police killings of unarmed black individuals on the mental health of black Americans in the general population. We caution researchers to vet carefully crowdsourced data that tracks police behaviors and warn against reducing these complex incidents to overly simplistic armed/unarmed dichotomies.

Police Violence among Adults Diagnosed with Mental Disorders

2020 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 81-89
Author(s):  
Hyun-Jin Jun ◽  
Jordan E DeVylder ◽  
Lisa Fedina
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
General Population ◽  
Mental Disorders ◽  
Severe Mental Illness ◽  
Violence Exposure ◽  
Health Conditions ◽  
Psychotic Symptoms ◽  
Police Violence ◽  
Mental Health Conditions

Abstract Police violence is reportedly common among those diagnosed with mental disorders characterized by the presence of psychotic symptoms or pronounced emotional lability. Despite the perception that people with mental illness are disproportionately mistreated by the police, there is relatively little empirical research on this topic. A cross-sectional general population survey was administered online in 2017 to 1,000 adults in two eastern U.S. cities to examine the relationship between police violence exposure, mental disorders, and crime involvement. Results from hierarchical logistic regression and mediation analyses revealed that a range of mental health conditions are broadly associated with elevated risk for police violence exposure. Individuals with severe mental illness are more likely than the general population to be physically victimized by police, regardless of their involvement in criminal activities. Most of the excess risk of police violence exposure related to common psychiatric diagnoses was explained by confounding factors including crime involvement. However, crime involvement may necessitate more police contact, but does not necessarily justify victimization or excessive force (particularly sexual and psychological violence). Findings support the need for adequate training for police officers on how to safely interact with people with mental health conditions, particularly severe mental illness.

scholarly journals Psychiatric Disorders Among Older Black Americans: Within- and Between-Group Differences

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Joseph Taylor ◽  
Linda M Chatters
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
African American ◽  
Risk Factor ◽  
African Americans ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Psychiatric Disorders ◽  
Black Americans ◽  
Black American ◽  
American Population ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Psychiatric disorders impose significant personal, social, and financial costs for individuals, families, and the nation. Despite a large amount of research and several journals focused on psychiatric conditions, there is a paucity of research on psychiatric disorders among Black Americans (i.e., African Americans and Black Caribbeans), particularly older Black Americans. The present literature review examines research on psychiatric disorders among older Black Americans and provides a broad overview of research findings that are based on nationally representative studies. Collectively, this research finds: (1) older African Americans have lower rates of psychiatric disorders than younger African Americans; (2) family support is not protective of psychiatric disorders, whereas negative interaction with family members is a risk factor; (3) everyday discrimination is a risk factor for psychiatric disorders; (4) both older African Americans and African American across the adult age range have lower prevalence rates of psychiatric disorders than non-Latino whites; (5) Black Caribbean men have particularly high rates of depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, and suicide attempts; and (6) a significant proportion of African American older adults with mental health disorders do not receive professional help. This literature review also discusses the “Race Paradox” in mental health, the Environmental Affordances Model, and the importance of investigating ethnicity differences among Black Americans. Future research directions address issues that are directly relevant to the Black American population and include the following: (1) understanding the impact of mass incarceration on the psychiatric disorders of prisoners’ family members, (2) assessing the impact of immigration from African countries for ethnic diversity within the Black American population, (3) examining the impact of racial identity and racial socialization as potential protective factors for psychiatric morbidities, and (4) assessing racial diversity in life-course events and their impact on mental health.

scholarly journals Police killings and their spillover effects on the mental health of black Americans: a population-based, quasi-experimental study

The Lancet ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 392 (10144) ◽  
pp. 302-310 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacob Bor ◽  
Atheendar S Venkataramani ◽  
David R Williams ◽  
Alexander C Tsai
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Experimental Study ◽  
Black Americans ◽  
Spillover Effects ◽  
Population Based ◽  
Quasi Experimental

scholarly journals Reply to: Nix and Lozada (2020), “Do police killings of unarmed persons really have spillover effects? Reanalyzing Bor et al. (2018)”

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacob Brr ◽  
Atheendar Venkataramani ◽  
David Williams ◽  
Alexander C. Tsai
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Health Outcomes ◽  
State Level ◽  
Spillover Effects ◽  
Population Based ◽  
Mental Health Outcomes ◽  
Point Estimate ◽  
Police Violence ◽  
Quasi Experimental ◽  
Project Data

Nix and Lozada (2020) provide a critique of our 2018 paper, “Police killings and their spillover effects on the mental health of black Americans: a population-based, quasi-experimental study.” They take issue to our use of crowdsourced data from the Mapping Police Violence project database on whether or not a given victim was unarmed, our main exposure measure, and argue that 93 cases were miscoded as unarmed in these data. They then argue that recoding or dropping these 30% cases led to an attenuated and statistically non-significant estimate of the effect of these events on mental health outcomes among black American adults. In this reply, we argue that (1) our use of the Mapping Police Violence project data was carefully considered and scientifically valid both from a theoretical and analytic perspective, and (2) that the difference between our estimates and Nix and Lozada’s do not arise from “miscoding” as the authors claim, but rather a different definition of what constitutes an unarmed victim. To probe the robustness of our results, we estimate 128 regressions models representing all combinations of exclusions of the seven classes of events Nix and Lozada dispute as being unarmed. The estimates are uniformly positive (i.e., all indicative of a harmful relationship between exposure to these events at the state-level and mental health outcomes), and the range of estimates overlap substantially with the 95% confidence interval for our original point estimate.

scholarly journals Street triage services in England: service models, national provision and the opinions of police

2018 ◽  
Vol 42 (6) ◽  
pp. 253-257 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abirami Kirubarajan ◽  
Stephen Puntis ◽  
Devon Perfect ◽  
Marc Tarbit ◽  
Mary Buckman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
National Survey ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Traditional Approach ◽  
Clinical Implications ◽  
Modes Of Operation ◽  
Specialist Services ◽  
Service Models ◽  
The Law ◽  
Core Part

Aims and methodStreet triage services are increasingly common and part of standard responses to mental health crises in the community, but little is understood about them. We conducted a national survey of mental health trusts to gather detailed information regarding street triage services alongside a survey of Thames Valley police officers to ascertain their views and experiences.ResultsTriage services are available in most areas of the country and are growing in scope. There is wide variation in levels of funding and modes of operation, including hours covered. Police officers from our survey overwhelmingly support such services and would like to see them expanded.Clinical implicationsMental health crises now form a core part of policing and there are compelling reasons for the support of specialist services. Recent changes to the law have heightened this need, with a requirement for specialist input before a Section 136 is enacted. Those who have experienced triage services report it as less stigmatising and traumatic than a traditional approach, but there remains little evidence on which to base decisions.Declaration of interestNone.

Policing mental illness: Police use of section 136 – Perspectives from police and mental-health nurses

2021 ◽  
pp. 002580242199336
Author(s):  
Meron Wondemaghen
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Health Care Policy ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Data Sources ◽  
Mental Health Crisis ◽  
Care Policy ◽  
Mental Health Nurses ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
Pilot Scheme

Ideological shifts in mental health-care policy such as deinstitutionalisation have meant police have had to make decisions about the care of persons with a mental-health crisis. This study examines how police in five English counties respond to crisis calls when employing the powers afforded in section 136 of the Mental Health Act 1983, and the effectiveness of the national Street Triage pilot scheme. Qualitative interviews with 30 police officers and mental-health nurses (MHN) were collected as data sources. The analysis shows that police have previously struggled with the significant number of crisis calls, whilst also finding mental-health services inadequately sourced, leading to some detentions in police cells as alternatives to health-based places of safety. However, the scheme has made positive changes in alleviating these issues when MHN are co-located with police, highlighting the need to strengthen their partnership by facilitating the sharing of information, responsibilities and decision making in order to ensure police cells continue to be avoided as alternative places of safety.

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