Stereotypes: Black Men are Prono to Violence

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People from black communities are undoubtedly overrepresented in the forensic mental health system, this anomaly is impacted heavily by the fact that the system seriously disadvantages black people within their remit (Narco, 2007; Department of Health, 2003). African-Caribbean people are more likely to receive coercive forms of care, spend longer in hospital and experience greater rates of transfer to higher security facilities (NIMHE, 2003 cited in Vige, 2005). Figures show that, at each heightened level of security in the psychiatric process, black people are increasingly overrepresented, from informal to civil detention, and then in detention on forensic sections within the courts and criminal justice system. Evidence, establishing the inexplicably high rates of diagnosis of schizophrenia amongst African-Caribbean people is vast (Narco, 2007; Department of Health, 2003). This misdiagnosis of schizophrenia stems from the stereotype that black men are “prone to violence”. When diagnosing black men, this racial stereotype is often an unconscious thought in a clinicians mind, this can also be known as “racial profiling” in the criminal justice system (Whaley, 2004). Black peoples distrust of the “white society” that can also be seen in FMH settings stems from the level of racism experienced and contributes to what was formerly known as “healthy cultural paranoia” or “cultural mistrust” (Whaley, 2004). This essay aims to discuss theories such as cultural competency and institutional racism looking at how this impacts on how black people are treated in forensic metal health settings such as Broadmoor as well as general mental health settings. Focusing particularly on deaths that have occurred in custody involving black men.
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...rch 2014].
Vige, M., 2005. Race and mental health treatment. Criminal Justice Matters,, 61(1), pp. 28-30. [Online] Available at: http://0eds.b.ebscohost.com.brum.beds.ac.uk/eds/folder?sid=18f361e1-8776-40cb-ba90-6e8c7615b71b%40sessionmgr111&vid=4&hid=101 [Accessed 17th March 2014].
Wade, J. C., 1993. "Institutional racism: An analysis of the mental health system.". American Journal Of Orthopsychiatry, 63(4), pp. 536-544. [Online] Available at: http://0eds.b.ebscohost.com.brum.beds.ac.uk/eds/folder?sid=18f361e1-8776-40cb-ba90-6e8c7615b71b%40sessionmgr111&vid=4&hid=101 [Accessed 24th March 2014].
Whaley, L. (2004) 'Ethnicity/Race, Paranoia, and Hospitalization for Mental Health Problems Among Men' US National library of Medicine National Institutes of Health. 94 (1) [Online] Available at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1449830/ [Accessed 29th March 2014].

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