ABSTRACT
Service-user organisations, outspoken high-profile celebrities and ongoing media campaigns have greatly assisted in removing epistemic social barriers associated generally with mental illness. Whilst these efforts diminish stigmatising inhibitors of disclosure and help-seeking, evidence still exists that prejudicial attitudes prevail, particularly when it comes to risk and criminality. This chapter will discuss the significant problems that arise when police and criminal justice agencies in the UK and Australia interact with those who suffer from mental illness. A plethora of overarching, UK-applicable legislation, guidance, administrative principles and strategies exist at the international and national levels, such as the United Nation’s Convention of Rights for People with Disabilities and the Public Sector Equality Duty. Furthermore, regional strategies such as the Welsh government’s Together for Mental Health Delivery Plan 2016-2019 direct Welsh health boards to work in conjunction with policing partners to ‘better address mental health needs of frequent offenders’. This should be achieved by interagency cooperation and the partnership approach. Similar strategic documents exist in countries such as Australia. This chapter explores issues such as human rights, the criminalisation of mental health sufferers, police engagement and resourcing problems for public agencies and critically discusses whether policing agencies are providing an effective, ‘reasonably adjusted’ pathway to equitable access to needs and entitlements.
