In 1984, Delthorne Graham ran into a Charlotte, North Carolina convenience store to get orange juice to stabilize his blood sugar. Seeing the line to pay was too long, he put down the juice and hopped back into the passenger seat of his friend’s car. A policeman looking for a suspect nearby noticed the behavior and pulled over Graham’s friend. While the officer checked the license and registration, Graham’s diabetic shock grew. He stumbled out of the car, circled it twice, sat down on the curb and passed out. The officer cuffed and took him in for suspicious behavior.
The Supreme Court heard Delthorne Graham’s case in 1989. During the arguments, Justice Thurgood Marshall pressed to understand. “What was Mr. Graham doing that was so violent that he had to be handcuffed?” Nothing. But the context — a Black man running in and out of a convenience store, appearing agitated — was reasonable suspicion enough, argued the defendant’s lawyer. Though the Court favored Graham’s claims, subsequent interpretations of Graham vs. Connor also protected police decisions made in the harried moments such as follows.
In July 2016, Charles Kinsey was guiding his client, a 27-year-old autistic man, home after an elopement when police searching for a different (suicidal) man shot him in the leg. Kinsey had laid down and persuaded his client to sit, but the officers misconstrued the client’s toy truck and behavior as threatening. They shot at him, hitting Kinsey’s leg. He bled for 20 minutes without first aid, but lived.
In March 2020, Joe Prude called 911 because his brother was having a breakdown, might have taken PCP, and had left in only his pajamas. Daniel Prude was naked and bleeding as he walked down a Rochester, New York street. Police were dispatched for what is called a “mental health arrest.” They asked Daniel to lay down and put his hands behind his back. “Sure thing, sure thing,” he said, but grew agitated on the cold ground. Eleven minutes later, after three officers had restrained Daniel for several minutes, Daniel Prude died. A light snow fell.
Graham Vs. Connor protects police making split second choices but it too often fails when a 911 call involves mental illness, disability or substance abuse. In part that’s because police are expected to be generalists. Consider what we increasingly ask of police (and other community servants such as teachers): They are to identify whether individuals have health conditions, disabilities or substance issues, then they must shift modes of decision making in order to reduce harm. While everyone benefits from this training, in a crisis, public servants need the support of specialists. Our police and courts, as is, should not be the primary means to divert individuals who need treatment to programs rather than jail. We need a nation-wide, robust ecosystem of reforms akin to Maryland’s providers.
Rachel Christensen has worked for 15 years in Maryland’s largest health provider of mental health, substance use and developmental disability services. Her clients suffer from both mental illnesses and addiction. Some of them encounter the criminal justice system. Some are witnesses; some are victims; some commit crimes. Many have a personal crisis wherein they make a poor life choice and end up in encounter with police and courts.
Recently one of Christensen’s clients had a breakdown during which she trespassed on private property. She was arrested, found non-criminally responsible, and let go on “conditional release.” She has to work with Christensen’s provider for the next five years. After evaluation, Christensen placed the client into one of many rehabilitative programs, which include structured living in 1-to-4 or 1-to-15 staff-monitored housing, or independent, monitored living. The client will graduate through stages of treatment. Christensen could not prevent the client from being snarled in the court system for another decade. If her client’s health improves, and there are no other incidents for the duration of the probation, the woman will be free. But if the woman suffers a break as late as the last month of her probation, she will have to start over from scratch.
Christensen notes that it costs far less taxpayer money to put a person through short-term hospitalization and outpatient programs than it does to jail them. States can improve finances and free up criminal justice systems. How? Establish mobile crisis teams that free police to focus on criminal situations and traffic violations. A mobile response team can be called by police, or communities can employ professionals who listen to police scanners and have the authority to show up with police for intervention. Establish 211 lines for families to call instead of 911. Destigmatize mental illness and addiction through better education. Create addiction and mental health courts in every jurisdiction.
The League of Women Voters have diverse position statements regarding mental health and criminal justice. In California, the League’s statement reads:“Train police to identify individuals with mental health conditions, disabilities or substance abuse/addiction, so that officers will request support from appropriate medical and mental health professionals, with the goal of diverting those individuals into treatment instead of jail.” Indiana’s League statement focuses on the mental health of juveniles, though juveniles are not the only population with promising rehabilitation rates with appropriate treatment.
If our police had LCSW-licensed emergency responders, we could move away from a false binary that we either support our police or not. While most people with mental illness do not commit crimes, let alone violent ones (and those who do are more likely to have co-current substance issues), involving health care and focusing on rehabilitation are in everyone’s best interest — financially, humanely, socially and ethically.
The League of Women Voters, a non-partisan, multi-issue organization encourages informed and active participation in government, works to increase public understanding of major policy issues and influences public policy through education and advocacy. All men and women are invited to join the LWV where hands-on work to safeguard democracy leads to civic improvement. For information about the League, visit the website www.lwvmontco.org or voice mail 765-361-2136.
