Earlier this month, police received a frantic phone call from the parents of Melissa Boarts. Their daughter had just threatened to slit her wrists, they explained to the police, and had then promptly driven off. Police allege that, when they caught up with Boarts, who was diagnosed with bipolar manic depression, she got out of her car, “armed with a weapon and charged the officers.” Officers shot and killed her. In the wake of their daughter’s death, Boarts’ parents have been adamant about one thing, the Montgomery Advertiser reports: “They didn’t have to shoot her.”
Boarts’ case is one of hundreds that demonstrates the injustice plaguing those with mental disorders, including those with drug and alcohol problems, at every point in the American criminal justice system. Often, these are individuals who should have been receiving therapy for their ailments. Instead, because mental-health programs are underfunded, they end up in jail or prison for crimes—such as disorderly conduct or threatening behavior—that can be traced to their untreated illness, experts argue. Once incarcerated, individuals must then deal with staffers who haven’t received proper training and thus often use unnecessary force with mentally ill inmates who don’t adhere to the rules.
[For more of this story, written by Francie Diep, go to https://psmag.com/american-pol...135262c27#.dfwies9i2]
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