On Sept. 26, 2019, Leonard Shand was shot and killed by 10 police officers from three distinct departments in Maryland: Hyattsville (6), Prince George’s County (3), and Mt. Rainer (1). For nearly 30 minutes prior, police officers attempted to use less lethal options to subdue Shand, a 49-year-old Black man who was talking loudly and […]

Individuals with serious mental illness may be treated differently by the criminal justice and legal systems, according to new research, which may contribute to the higher prevalence of this population in jails and prisons. A team of researchers from New York recently analyzed state data to determine the effect of serious mental illness on the […]

For nine and a half months, Lydia Thornton was locked into her cell nearly 24 hours a day. All of her meals were slid through a slot in the cell’s steel door. She was allowed outside to shower three times each week. Through cinderblock walls, she could hear women in adjoining cells screaming for hours […]

It has been argued convincingly that the public’s primary source of information about mental illness is the media: news, entertainment, and the echo chamber of social media. These depictions cue, frame, and otherwise guide our interpretive frameworks in both obvious and subtle ways. Visual media may be especially compelling and impactful in guiding social awareness, […]

Based on the increase in the U.S. population, there are now some one million people with serious mental illness living among the general population who, 60 years ago, would have been treated in state mental hospitals. Multiple studies have reported that, at any given time, between 40% and 50% of them are receiving no treatment […]