Policing 'Vancouver's Mental Health Crisis': A Critical Discourse Analysis

Critical Public Health
Jade Boyd, Thomas Kerr

Abstract

In Canada and other western nations there has been an unprecedented expansion of criminal justice systems and a well documented increase of contact between people with mental illness and the police. Canadian police, especially in Vancouver, British Columbia, have been increasingly at the forefront of discourse and regulation specific to mental health. Drawing on critical discourse analysis, this paper to explores this claim through a case study of four Vancouver Police Department (VPD) policy reports on "Vancouver's mental health crisis" from 2008-2013, which include recommendations for action. Analyzed is the VPD's role in framing issues of mental health in one urban space. This study is the first analysis to critically examine the VPD reports on mental health in Vancouver, B.C. The reports reproduce negative discourses about deinstitutionalization, mental illness and dangerousness that may contribute to further stigma and discrimination of persons with mental illness. Policing reports are widely drawn upon, thus critical analyses are particularly significant for policy makers and public health professionals in and outside of Canada.

References

Mar 5, 2003·International Journal of Law and Psychiatry·Robert Menzies
Feb 16, 2005·International Journal of Law and Psychiatry·Kathleen HartfordJeffrey S Hoch
Nov 20, 2012·Journal of Urban Health : Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine·Isabelle Aube LindenMichael Krausz
Oct 17, 2014·American Journal of Public Health·Amanda GellerBruce G Link

❮ Previous
Next ❯

Citations

Jan 28, 2021·Healthcare Management Forum·Eileen Florence Pepler, Clay G Barber
Sep 9, 2021·Journal of American College Health : J of ACH·Isabelle LanserMichelle G Craske

❮ Previous
Next ❯

Related Concepts

Related Feeds

Addiction

This feed focuses mechanisms underlying addiction and addictive behaviour including heroin and opium dependence, alcohol intoxication, gambling, and tobacco addiction.

Related Papers

Program Notes - Association of University Programs in Health Administration
A Crichton
Psychiatric Journal of the University of Ottawa : Revue De Psychiatrie De L'Université D'Ottawa
R Kunjukrishnan, J M Bradford
The New England Journal of Medicine
Katherine L Harding
© 2022 Meta ULC. All rights reserved