Livingston James D
Dr. Livingston is with the Department of Sociology and Criminology, Saint Mary's University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada (e-mail:
Psychiatr Serv. 2016 Aug 1;67(8):850-7. doi: 10.1176/appi.ps.201500312. Epub 2016 Apr 15.
There is widespread belief that people with mental disorders are overrepresented in police encounters. The prevalence of such interactions is used as evidence of extensive problems in our health care and social support systems. The goal of this study was to estimate the rates of police arrests among people with mental disorders, police involvement in pathways to mental health care, and police calls for service involving persons with mental disorders.
A systematic review was performed with seven multidisciplinary databases. Additional studies were identified by reviewing the reference lists of all included records and by using the "related articles" and "cited articles" tools in the Web of Science database. Studies were included if they were published in peer-reviewed journals, reported primary research findings, and were written in English.
Eighty-five unique studies covering 329,461 cases met inclusion criteria. Data reported in 21 studies indicated that one in four people with mental disorders have histories of police arrest. Data from 48 studies indicated that about one in ten individuals have police involved in their pathway to mental health care. Data reported in 13 studies indicated that one in 100 police dispatches and encounters involve people with mental disorders.
These estimates illuminate the magnitude of the issue and supply an empirically based reference point to scholars and practitioners in this area. The findings are useful for understanding how local trends regarding police involvement in the lives of people with mental disorders compare with rates in the broader research literature.
人们普遍认为，患有精神障碍的人在与警方的接触中占比过高。这种互动的普遍性被用作证据，证明我们的医疗保健和社会支持系统存在广泛问题。本研究的目的是估计患有精神障碍的人的警方逮捕率、警方在精神卫生保健途径中的参与情况，以及涉及精神障碍患者的警方服务呼叫。
对七个多学科数据库进行了系统综述。通过查阅所有纳入记录的参考文献列表，并使用科学网数据库中的“相关文章”和“被引文章”工具，确定了其他研究。如果研究发表在同行评审期刊上、报告了主要研究结果且为英文撰写，则纳入研究。
85项涵盖329461例病例的独特研究符合纳入标准。21项研究报告的数据表明，四分之一的精神障碍患者有被警方逮捕的历史。48项研究的数据表明，约十分之一的人在其精神卫生保健途径中有警方参与。13项研究报告的数据表明，每100次警方调度和接触中就有一次涉及精神障碍患者。
这些估计揭示了该问题的严重程度，并为该领域的学者和从业者提供了一个基于实证的参考点。这些发现有助于理解关于警方参与精神障碍患者生活的地方趋势与更广泛研究文献中的比率相比情况如何。
