BACKGROUND:
The occurrence of arrest-related deaths is a critical public health issue that effects thousands of people every year. While the overrepresentation of African Americans has become a highly charged political issue, less attention has been paid to the prevalence of persons suffering from mental illness
METHODS:
This project examines the role that mental health plays as a risk factor in arrest-related deaths in the United States and Washington State through a secondary data analysis. The results attempt to estimate the number of arrest-related deaths occurring over a 5-year period, the percentage of those persons who were exhibiting symptoms of mental illness at time of death, and the relative risk of death during police encounters for those exhibiting symptoms of mental illness.
RESULTS:
Using data gathered by the Fatal Encounters Project, this study identified 6045 arrest-related deaths that occurred between January 1, 2010 and December 31, 2015. This project found that persons exhibiting symptoms of mental illness make up 24% of arrest-related deaths. Nationally, a person with a mental illness is 4.16 times more likely to die during an encounter with police than a person who is not exhibiting symptoms. In Washington State 41% (RR 9.22) of those killed by police were exhibiting symptoms of mental illness at the time of their death.
CONCLUSIONS:
This topic is a difficult one to evaluate due to the lack of surveillance data in the United States. These findings serve as the beginning of a conversation on law enforcement use of deadly force. Comparing samples of data used in this study to data gathered by other studies also suggested that, while the Fatal Encounter’s data was more comprehensive, it may still only represent a portion of the actual number of arrest-related deaths during this period. There are also other limitations to using data of this type that are best addressed through the adoption of professional surveillance systems.