Mental and behavioral health characteristics among individuals injuriously shot by police in the United States
Year: 2025
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Background Criminalization of people experiencing mental illness is systemic, but the conditions surrounding police use-of-force in such encounters are under-examined.Aims To describe mental or behavioral health (MBH) involvement in injurious shootings by U.S. police compared with MBH-uninvolved shootings.Methods Using a 2015–2020 dataset developed from manual review of injurious shootings by police compiled from the Gun Violence Archive (GVA) (n = 10,615), we identified 2454 people shot in MBH-involved encounters. Through further review, we classified the MBH conditions and behaviors involved. Using descriptive statistics and logistic regression models, we compared characteristics of injured people, presenting conditions, and responses.Results Twenty-three percent of injurious shootings by police involved MBH symptoms (n = 2336) or substance use (n = 921). Eighty-one percent of injured people threatened violence against others; 10% presented only self-harming symptoms, and 5% presented no symptoms. MBH involvement was associated with 1.5-times higher odds of fatality than MBH-uninvolved shootings and 31% higher odds of injuring an unarmed person vs. person with a gun. Clinician presence was identified in 1% of MBH-involved shootings.Conclusions Police are de facto mental health system responders. Associated harms may be reduced through triage systems to facilitate clinician involvement, extreme risk protection order statutes, and better police training and protocols.
Source: Journal of Mental Health
Institutions: Vanderbilt University, Johns Hopkins University
Language: English
Subfield: Health
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Awards: G1444790808, G4246360295
OpenAlex ID: W4416213545