Phillips Jake, Padfield Nicola, Gelsthorpe Loraine
Department of Law and Criminology, Sheffield Hallam University, Heart of the Campus, Collegiate Crescent, Sheffield, S10 2BQ, England.
Faculty of Law, University of Cambridge, West Road, CB3 9DZ, Cambridge, England.
Health Justice. 2018 Aug 21;6(1):14. doi: 10.1186/s40352-018-0072-7.
There has long been concern about the number of people who die in custody in England and Wales, particularly in prisons or police stations. The concern is obviously heightened when people die either at their own hand, or at the hands of others. Yet there has been selective critical gaze, and people who die whilst under probation or community supervision have been neglected (Phillips, J, Gelsthorpe, L, Padfield, N., Criminology & Criminal Justice, https://doi.org/10.1177/1748895817745939 , 2017). Given that there is evidence to suggest that contact with the criminal justice system in non-custodial settings is associated with higher mortality rates than those found in the general population, such neglect is concerning.
This article explores data which has been published since 2016 by Her Majesty's Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) on the deaths of offenders whilst under supervision. We draw on data which is collected by probation providers and collated by HMPPS to present original analyses, with particular focus on deaths by suicide. We calculate rates of self-inflicted deaths and rate ratios with the general population and the prison population.
The suicide rates for all groups within the sample are higher than the general population.
We explore the utility of the data in helping us to understand the trends regarding people dying whilst under probation supervision with a particular focus on suicide, and highlight areas where the dataset is deficient. We conclude that whilst the dataset can be used to calculate headline rates of suicide it raises many questions in terms of the extant risks that people on probation face, and we explore ways in which the data can be used more fully to understand this important social and public health issue. We consider ways in which the dataset could be matched with other datasets in future research so that health issues might be brought into the analysis, and reflect on other research methodologies which would add depth to our understanding of why the mortality rate amongst people in contact with the criminal justice system is higher than in the general population.
长期以来，人们一直对英格兰和威尔士在押人员的死亡人数感到担忧，尤其是在监狱或警察局中的死亡情况。当人们死于自杀或他人之手时，这种担忧显然会加剧。然而，人们的审视存在选择性，那些在缓刑或社区监管期间死亡的人一直被忽视（菲利普斯，J，盖尔斯索普，L，帕德菲尔德，N.，《犯罪学与刑事司法》，https://doi.org/10.1177/1748895817745939 ，2017年）。鉴于有证据表明，在非监禁环境中与刑事司法系统接触的人群死亡率高于普通人群，这种忽视令人担忧。
本文探讨了自2016年以来英国女王陛下监狱与缓刑服务局（HMPPS）公布的关于罪犯在监管期间死亡的数据。我们利用缓刑服务机构收集并由HMPPS整理的数据进行原创分析，特别关注自杀死亡情况。我们计算了自杀死亡率以及与普通人群和监狱人群的比率。
样本中所有群体的自杀率均高于普通人群。
我们探讨了这些数据在帮助我们理解缓刑监管期间死亡趋势（尤其关注自杀情况）方面的作用，并突出了数据集存在不足的领域。我们得出结论，虽然该数据集可用于计算自杀的总体比率，但在缓刑人员面临的现有风险方面引发了许多问题，我们还探讨了如何更充分地利用这些数据来理解这一重要的社会和公共卫生问题。我们考虑了在未来研究中该数据集如何与其他数据集匹配，以便将健康问题纳入分析，并思考其他研究方法，这些方法将加深我们对为何与刑事司法系统接触的人群死亡率高于普通人群的理解。
