Policing the deinstitutionalized mentally ill: toward an understanding of its function
Although the police have long been recognized as a community health resource in the United States, this role has expanded significantly over the past several decades as a result of the deinstitutionalization movement. From a critical perspective, this article provides an analysis of the relationship...
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
1993
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| In: |
Crime, law and social change
Year: 1993, Volume: 19, Issue: 3, Pages: 281-300 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
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| Summary: | Although the police have long been recognized as a community health resource in the United States, this role has expanded significantly over the past several decades as a result of the deinstitutionalization movement. From a critical perspective, this article provides an analysis of the relationship between this enlarged police role and the current American socio-political order, in general, and the welfare state in particular. It is argued that in the course of handling the mentally ill the police carry out a number of functions for both the welfare state and the socio-political order, and in doing so, shore-up the social conditions which have inhibited the development of a positive, long-term care policy for the mentally ill. This article discusses three such functions and identifies an alternative social arrangement; one in which the police would not have to serve as a support for liberal-capitalism and its attendant inadequate welfare state. |
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| Item Description: | Literaturverzeichnis: Seite 296-300 |
| ISSN: | 1573-0751 |
| DOI: | 10.1007/BF01844063 |