Reporting to the Police Among People with Mental Illnesses Who Were Victims of Violence

ABSTRACT

The aim of this study was to explore reporting to the police in people with mental illnesses who were victims of violence. Fifty-eight persons with mental illnesses who had experienced physical, sexual, or psychological violence in the past three years answered quantitative questionnaires. After victimization, 33 (56.9%) participants had police contact, with 22 of them having initiated this contact. Participants who were younger (p = .027), had a substance use disorder (25.8% vs. 50.0%), used drugs or alcohol during victimization (25.0% vs. 51.7%), or experienced shame or guilt (27.5% vs. 62.5%) after victimization were less likely to report to the police. The most frequently named reasons not to report were fear of secondary victimization by the police and the belief that the police could not do anything or that the perpetrator would not be punished adequately.

KEYWORDS:

• Severe mental illness
• police
• victimization
• substance use
• criminal proceedings
• shame
• guilt

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request. The data are not publicly available because they contain information that could compromise the privacy of research participants.

Supplementary data

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/15564886.2023.2243607.

Notes

1. The German versions of the M.I.N.I. and the SCID that were used were based on the DSM-IV. The interviewers were trained to administer the instruments.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the Foundation Wohlfahrtspflege North Rhine Westphalia (“Stiftung Wohlfahrtspflege NRW”) [SW-620-6825-Z].