Don’t Publish Names In Mental Health-Related Crimes: Opinion
ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — As drug overdose deaths continue to plague Essex County – there have been 167 suspected cases between Jan. 1 and June 11 – some local police and community leaders are embracing a different approach to tackling the opioid epidemic: get people into treatment, not prison. But with this new attitude comes a question: Should reporters publish the names of crime suspects with mental health or drug abuse issues?
Essex County Opioid Use Prevention Task Force Coordinator Robin Lavorato recently reached out to Patch to share some local overdose statistics and make a request… stop publishing the names of people arrested for “mental health and substance use-related crimes.”
“If a diabetic ate too many donuts, didn’t take their insulin and had a stroke due to the individual’s lack of treatment, we wouldn’t be printing this as a moral failure,” the task force coordinator said. “Let’s treat those with mental health issues and substance abuse disorders the same.”
Lavorato said that during the task force’s first meeting in June, representatives with the Caldwell Police Department shared how its officers are dealing with the opioid epidemic. In addition, the Newark and West Orange departments “did a great job” discussing the alternatives to incarceration and police support to entering treatment and reducing stigma.
“Mental health issues and substance use disorders are brain diseases,” Lavorato asserted. “When individuals suffering with these diseases feel stigmatized as they are morally failing or are less of a person due to their disease, it builds a barrier to their treatment.”
The Essex County task force will hold its second meeting/dinner at 5 p.m. on July 17 at the Caldwell University Alumni Theater, 120 Bloomfield Avenue. The public and community leaders are invited to attend. RSVP can be made to rlheathguide@gmail.com, or by calling (862) 485-8811.
Patch recently reached out to Lavorato with three questions about her “don’t publish names” proposal. Read her replies below.
PATCH: What harm does it do when the news media publishes the names of people with mental health issues who have allegedly committed crimes?
LAVORATO: Let’s begin with this… why would we publish the names of any individual who has committed a crime? To embarrass them into not doing it again? To let community members know that the individual is a criminal and stay away from her/him? Because the public has the right to know who is committing crimes?
I don’t agree with any of these reasons. And when it comes to anyone but especially someone who is already struggling with brain disorders we don’t want to tear them down… we want to build them up. The days of ‘let them rot in jail’ are over. Embarrassing someone just lowers their self-esteem, makes them feel bad about the person they are not the crime they committed. And how is that beneficial in changing the person for the better?
Next, ostracizing someone? Turning your back on someone, crossing the street when you see he/she coming? This goes back to first grade – when you learned how hurtful it is to leave someone out of a birthday party, let someone each lunch alone, be the last person to be picked for a team.
So for an individual who is already dealing with depression, anxiety, struggling with thoughts of death by suicide, and/or substance use disorder publishing their name in the paper for a crime that most likely was a factor of their illness you are just making the darkness they need to get out of darker and much more difficult to see the light.
We also know that many people with mental health issues especially substance abuse disorder already have relationship struggles with family and friends. We have HIPA laws to keep individuals health history confidential. If someone does not want to upset their family and they are not ready to share they have cancer, the doctor cannot inform the family. Why is it ok for the police to share someone’s health issue with a reporter to advertise to thousands of readers? Mental health issues, substance use disorder are both brain diseases and to remove stigma in an effort for people to seek treatment we need to address all diseases fairly.
What about children? Should children go to school and be embarrassed when their friends start teasing them because of their parent’s health issues – that their friends heard their parents discussing due to a newspaper article? We must remember these health issues are not a moral failing. They are true diseases that take a lot of juggling to find individualized treatment that works best for each individual. And relapse happens just like someone going in and out of remission from cancer.
But the more we embarrass, ostracize, judge, turn people off from obtaining treatment due to stigma, the more crimes we will see committed. The more families we will see broken, the more lives we will see never meet their full potential.
PATCH: How can reporters ethically know whether a crime suspect has possible mental health or substance abuse issues? Are there any “red flags?”
LAVORATO: When it comes to a reporter receiving information on a crime, I would say it comes from the chief of police of the town the crime was committed. Police have intense training on dealing with defusing and dealing with those with mental health issues and substance use disorder. The police are the ones who should be responsible to identify the individual’s situation and address it accordingly.
First, we now know that so many crimes that are committed by individuals with substance use disorder are committed in order to finance their substance use. With the uptick in opioid use, a drug like no other, that has an immediate and devastating addiction rate, we see these crimes on the rise. But we are seeing police departments who truly understand we cannot arrest and incarcerate our way out of this epidemic. Good policing is now evaluating the crime situation. If police arrest someone who drives under the influence, is in possession of self-use amounts of drugs, stealing low end items (not major robbery rings) to get their next fix, and/or is disorderly, it would be most beneficial to have a relationship with the many agencies who now employ Recovery Specialists. (The NJ state program is Opioid Overdose Recovery Program, which I would love to see all police departments duplicate but instead of overdose it would be arrest that would be the trigger to call in a Recovery Specialist). The Recovery Specialist can be called in (they are available 24 hours a day) and warmly handed the individual and hopefully motivated into treatment. To assist with motivation the police can let the individual know that they will be lenient in the charges if they connect with the Recovery Specialist and obtain treatment.
The police can do the same with someone with other mental health issues. If the police identify a person is clearly not in their right mind, the can call in a mental health crisis team to work with the individual.
So it really is the police who need to identify the situation, be aware of stigma, and provide the best practice service to the individual in an effort to treat the underlying problem that actually caused the crime.
Police chiefs need to be educated and educate their departments on mental health issues, substance use disorder, lessening stigma and increasing competent language when speaking with individuals with these issues, and to develop a relationship with Recovery Specialists and Crisis Teams.
And it may be their job to alert the public through the newspapers on what happened in their community, but in providing information on the situation, it’s best to leave the individuals name out. I do understand that informing and bringing awareness that situations are going on in the community is a big piece of education, but using the struggling individuals name is never a good idea.
So if the police do not reveal names of these individuals, the newspapers will not have that information to print. If a newspaper reporter responds directly to a venue and is investigating the situation the red flags would be erratic behaviors, obvious intoxication and uncontrollable emotions. I believe a reporter can do a service to the community to let them know of the situation. There was an alleged drunk driver, there was an individual wanting to jump off the bridge… the reporter is bringing awareness to issues that were in the past whispered about, which is good, again awareness is education. But leave the names out and add resources and supports that someone who is reading the story can use in the case they, a family or a friend are in the same situation.
PATCH: Are there any cases where reporters should use the names of crime suspects with possible mental health issues? And how/where do we draw the line, if so?
LAVORATO: Two thoughts pop into my mind when I read this question. First thought on not printing names, I recall a seminar I attended years ago. The one discussion was on newspapers not printing the name of school shooters, mass murderers… that is giving notoriety to the person. It is wrong that we can name the murderer but we can’t name one innocent victim of the tragic event.
And again, children and other family members, they should not be held responsible for the acts of others. If I were a relative of Jeffrey Dahmer, I would have changed my name.
A second thought on a situation where a name may be needed to be printed. If a crime is committed and the individual has not been apprehended and the community at large is at risk of further crimes or harm, it might be in the best interest of the public to know John Doe is being sought, where he was last seen and why the community could be at risk.
As with anything there needs to be a discussion about this. This will be a topic at our task force meeting on July 17.
Should the news media publish the names of crimes that may be related to a suspect’s mental health or substance abuse issues? Let us know why – or why not – in the comments section! Learn how to post an op-ed to your local Patch site here.
Send local news tips and correction requests to eric.kiefer@patch.com
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