A Sociological Analysis of Police Interactions with Mentally Ill Youth

A SOCIOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF POLICE INTERACTIONS WITH MENTALLY ILL YOUTH Kelsey Allen Advisor: University of Guelph, 2017 Dr. Carolyn Yule The over-representation of youth aged 12-17 with mental illnesses within the Canadian criminal justice system has raised concern among political figures, legal actors and scholars. Although the Ontario Mental Health Act recommends that youth with mental illness should receive specialized treatment, many of these youth continue to be dealt with by the criminal justice system through harsher measures and more punitive sanctions than youth without mental illness. Surprisingly, very little research has been conducted on the decision-making processes of police officers when encountering mentally ill youth despite the fact that they are the first point of contact with the criminal justice system. Using a social constructionist framework, this study employs face-toface interviews with police officers to explore how they construct mental illness with delinquent youth and how this shapes their use of formal and informal measures. The findings reveal that police officers have developed a construction of mental illness, based on limited information, which they use to create a three-tier response in an effort to protect the safety of the mentally ill youth and the general public. A Sociological Analysis of Police Interactions with Mentally Ill Youth Kelsey Allen iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Several individuals have been influential in the completion of this thesis. It is my pleasure to thank each of them. I want to begin by expressing my sincerest gratitude for my Advisor, Dr. Carolyn Yule. I am humbled by your commitment to my thesis project as well as me as student. You always encouraged me and made me feel appreciated, which I will forever be thankful for. Not only did I learn valuable academic skills from you, you taught me patience, optimism, perseverance and assisted me in the completion of a project I never thought I could complete. Again, thank you for being my Advisor and for all you have taught me. To Dr. Bill O’Grady, you have been a valuable mentor to me throughout the completion of my Undergraduate Degree and Graduate Thesis project. You recognize my strengths and abilities and never shy away from pushing me to reach my potential. I thank you for sharing your wisdom with me and for sharing your input throughout all aspects of my thesis project. To Dr. Ron Stansfield, I thank you for being my external examiner and providing your unique perspectives on the topic. Your kind and welcoming nature, coupled with your ability to resonate with the topic gave me assurance that this project would be influential beyond the scholarly world. Your contributions to this thesis project have been greatly appreciated. To my family and friends, I thank you for sticking by me through this long process. To my parents, siblings, grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles, I thank you for the love and support you provided to me. The confidence you invested in my abilities helped to remind me of how much I had accomplished throughout this journey. As with most milestones in my life, I owe much of my success to you. I am forever grateful to have you all in my life. To my friends, I thank you for always encouraging me and I am extremely appreciative to have been through this journey with you. Lastly, to the Political Science and Sociology Departments, I thank several of you who have provided me with kind words and who have made this experience feel welcoming and enjoyable. A Sociological Analysis of Police Interactions with Mentally Ill Youth Kelsey Allen iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter One: Introduction . 1 1.1 The Current Study . 4 1.2 Chapter Overview . 4 Chapter Two: Literature Review . 6 2.1 Mentally Ill Individuals and the Criminal Justice System . 6 The Deinstitutionalization Movement . 6 The Results of Deinstitutionalization for Youth . 8 Challenges Faced by Mentally Ill Individuals . 10 2.2 Policies . 12 2.3 Police Officers and Delinquent Youth . 14 2.4 Conclusion . 17 Chapter Three: Theoretical Framework . 18 3.1 Historical Context of Social Constructionism . 19 Wave I . 20 Wave II . 21 Wave III . 24 3.2 The Construction of Mental Illness . 24 Disease as a Social Construct.25 Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders . 26 Normal Offenders.28 3.3 Police Culture . 30 The Blue Curtain . 30 The Influence of Social Interactions on Police Behaviour . 32 Changes to Police Culture . 33 3.4 Conclusion . 34 Chapter Four: Methodology . 35 4.1 Recruitment Strategy . 35 4.2 Sample . 37 4.3 Interview Instrument . 38 4.4 Analytic Strategy . 40 Sample Characteristics . 40 A Sociological Analysis of Police Interactions with Mentally Ill Youth Kelsey Allen v Thematic Analysis . 40 i) Key Measures and Concepts . 42 4.5 Limitations . 44 4.6 Conclusion . 45 Chapter Five: Results . 46 5.1 Thematic Analysis . 46 Theme One Mental Disorders: the DSM-V and Police Officer Categorization . 47 Theme Two Identifying Severe Mental Illness in the Absence of Abnormal Behaviours 51 i) Previous Experience with Mentally-ill Youth . 52 ii) Trusted Adults.54 iii) Zone of City . 57 Theme Three The Restructuring of Traditional Extra-Judicial Measures . 59 i) Tier One . 60 ii) Tier Two . 62 iii) Tier Three . 64 5.2 Conclusion . 68 Chapter Six: Discussion and Conclusion . 69 6.1 Defining Mental Illness: Police Culture versus Health Care Culture . 69 The Objectives of Two Cultures .