558,922 37,650
psychiatric beds · 1955 psychiatric beds · today
One Hundred Years of The Untreated
America closed its psychiatric hospitals. It never built what was supposed to replace them.
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One Hundred Years of

The Untreated

When the mental health system fails, the criminal justice system responds. The results are predictable.
Report   06 / 10
Window   2015 — 2024
Risk multiplier
16×
more likely killed by police
Fatal shootings · SMI
25%
of all fatal police shootings
Crisis 911 calls
2M/yr
10% of all police calls
CIT arrest reduction
58%
crisis intervention teams
Figure 05 The 16× statistic

The encounter

People with untreated serious mental illness are 16 times more likely to be killed during a law enforcement encounter than the general population.
16×
More likely to be killed during a police encounter
Source: Treatment Advocacy Center (2015)
Fatal force · mental illness indicated 2015 — 2024
Alternatives
Crisis Intervention Teams
2,700
departments with CIT training. Reduces arrests by 58% and use of force by 28%.
Co-Responder Models
60%
ER diversion rate when mental health professionals respond alongside officers. 400+ active programs.
988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline
5.7M
calls received in 2023, plus 2.2 million texts. A crisis alternative to 911.
The gap

Two million times a year, someone calls 911 for a mental health crisis. Police officers arrive because no one else is available. They are asked to be clinicians, social workers, and de-escalation experts with minutes of training in a domain that requires years.

The 16x statistic is a measure of system failure. It quantifies what happens when the mental health system's last line of defense is a badge and a gun. Crisis Intervention Teams reduce this risk — but fewer than 15% of law enforcement agencies have them.

The 988 Lifeline represents the first systemic attempt to route mental health crises away from law enforcement. In its first full year, it handled nearly 8 million contacts. Whether it scales fast enough to close the gap remains to be seen.