Welcome to our new home. We were previously known as the New York Association of Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services (NYAPRS).

The Alliance for Rights and Recovery

Formerly NYAPRS

E-News Donate

Bazelon: Reductions in Psych Hospital Beds Not Connected with Murders or Incarcerations

by troyweb

NYAPRS Note: In reaction to suggestions by some that linkages between violence and mental illnesses could be best addressed by increasing the number of psychiatric hospital beds, the prestigious Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law examined the relationships between states’ murder rates by firearms and the availability of psychiatric hospital beds, and states’ murder rates by firearms and incarceration rates. Their analysis found the following:

  • in the great majority of the 8,583 homicides with firearms in 2011,1 serious mental illness is not a factor
  • If expanding the number of psychiatric beds is a meaningful remedy to firearm related murders in this country, one would expect a clear inverse relationship, showing that states with low per capita numbers of psychiatric hospital beds have higher rates of firearm-related homicides or higher rates of incarceration. Correlations among these factors were found to be strikingly low and not statistically significant.
  • Proponents of expansions in psychiatric hospital beds have… also cited the over-representation of people with serious mental illness in criminal justice settings. If this were true, limited availability of psychiatric hospital beds would be expected to be associated with higher rates of incarceration, with inmates having serious mental illnesses swelling the numbers of incarcerated individuals. Applying data from the U. S. Department of Justice, again, the correlation was not statistically significant, approaching zero (Pearson’s r(47)=0.011, p=.470).
  • There is a substantial body of evidence suggesting that meaningful remedies may instead be found in appropriately resourcing the nation’s community mental health systems enabling them to move from their current crisis focus and to provide early, effective services and supports to people with serious mental illness.

 

 

New Bazelon Center Analysis on Psychiatric Hospital Bed Availability and Firearm Homicides

Washington – January 16, 2013 – Over the past several years, homicides involving the use of firearms – notably, mass murders that generate significant media attention – have raised questions about the adequacy of mental health services in this country. Some have argued that the disability rights movement, deinstitutionalization, and the closure of state hospital beds have significantly contributed to many of the tragic gun-related murders across the country. Such arguments tend to overlook the impact of the nation’s failure to fund the comprehensive community mental health systems that were intended to replace outmoded state institutions. Nevertheless, arguments to expand the availability of psychiatric hospital beds have ready appeal, particularly in the wake of tragic mass homicides; increasing the number of psychiatric hospital beds appears to be a straightforward response.

 

A new analysis conducted by the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law examines the relationships between states’ rates of murder by firearms, incarceration, and the availability of psychiatric hospital beds. If expanding the number of psychiatric beds is a meaningful remedy to firearm related murders in this country, one would expect a clear association between these factors, showing that states with fewer psychiatric hospital beds have higher rates of firearm-related homicides or incarceration.  

 

The Bazelon Center’s analysis found, however, that correlations among these factors are strikingly low. The analysis suggests that, to the extent that unaddressed needs of people with serious mental illness contribute to the nation’s homicide rate, the public policy answers lie not in increasing the number of psychiatric hospital beds, but elsewhere.

 

###

 

The Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law (www.bazelon.org) is the leading national legal-advocacy organization representing people with mental disabilities. It promotes laws and policies that can enable people with psychiatric or developmental disabilities to exercise their life choices and access the resources they need to participate fully in their communities.

 

For media inquiries, please contact Dominic Holt at Dominic @ bazelon.org or 202.467.5730, ext. 311.