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A new look at an old issue: People with mental illness and the law enforcement system

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Abstract

Most research on encounters between persons with mental illness and the law enforcement system has focused on the extent to which persons with mental illness are shifted between the mental health and law enforcement systems. This article focuses instead on the interplay between the mental health and law enforcement systems for a group of persons with severe mental illness who continue to be actively treated by an Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) program. To better understand the connection between these two systems, profiles were constructed for 100 ACT clients, including data about arrests, other contacts with the law enforcement system, and mental health treatment. Results indicate that although the majority of ACT clients had some contact with the law enforcement system, most police encounters and arrests were for minor infractions. Those clients with the most frequent and serious contacts also received more expensive and intensive mental health treatment. Implications for future research and program design are discussed.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Urban Studies and Community Health, Rutgers University, 30 College Ave., 08903, New Brunswick, NJ

    Nancy Wolff Ph.D. (Assistant Professor)

  2. Department of Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin, Madison

    Ronald J. Diamond M.D. (professor)

  3. Institute for Health, Health Care Policy, and Aging Research, Rutgers University, USA

    Thomas W. Helminiak Ph.D. (research economist research associate)

  4. Department of Psychiatry, Yale University, USA

    Thomas W. Helminiak Ph.D. (research economist research associate)

Authors
  1. Nancy Wolff Ph.D.
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  2. Ronald J. Diamond M.D.
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  3. Thomas W. Helminiak Ph.D.
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Additional information

This study was undertaken at the Mental Health Center of Dane County, located in Madison, Wisconsin, while all three authors were employed by the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

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Wolff, N., Diamond, R.J. & Helminiak, T.W. A new look at an old issue: People with mental illness and the law enforcement system. The Journal of Mental Health Administration 24, 152–165 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02898510

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