Search results
Twenty-eight percent of reported decedents (1,942 people) died before having been convicted of the alleged crime. Sixty-eight percent of deaths (4,684) occurred in prisons, 16% (1,111) occurred in jails, and 16% (1,118) occurred in police interactions or police custody.
Nov 9, 2023 · Federal and state laws each require counties to report deaths of people who are in the custody of police, jails or prisons, but our investigation found three deaths that were not reported to...
People also ask
Does name report deaths in police custody?
How many people do police kill a year?
How many people died in Pennsylvania jails & awaiting trial last year?
Does a county jail report a death?
Sep 24, 2020 · Few police officers are ever charged with murder or manslaughter when they cause a death in the line of duty, and only about a third of those officers are convicted. Even as tens of thousands of ...
- 4 min
May 9, 2021 · In 2018/19 we began 334 fatal incident investigations. […] We saw a 23% increase in self-inflicted deaths this year with worryingly high numbers in some prisons. In many cases, we had to make the same recommendations as in previous years, where remedial action had been promised (PPO Citation 2019, p. 11, emphasis added).
- Philippa Tomczak, Sue McAllister
- 2021
- Executive Summary
- Introduction
- Background
- Methodology
- Findings
- Legal Framework
- Conclusion
- Recommendations
- Acknowledgments
- Endnotes
On December 23, 2020, Bella Quinto-Collins called 911, seeking help for her 30-year-old brother, Angelo Quinto, who was agitated and exhibiting signs of a mental health crisis at their home in Antioch, California. When two police officers arrived, they pulled Quinto from his mother’s arms onto the floor. At least twice, Quinto’s mother, Cassandra Q...
As Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on George Floyd’s neck in May 2020, fellow officer Thomas Lane said, “Roll him on his side?… I just worry about the excited delirium or whatever.” Officer Lane’s comment in the midst of George Floyd’s murder is indicative of the extent to which the concept of “excited delirium” has come to pervade U...
In the United States, people of color are far more likely than white people to be killed by police. The American Medical Association, American Public Health Association, National Medical Association, and many other groups recognize this as a public health crisis.In addition, a significant percentage of police killings – anywhere from 25 to 50 perce...
Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) sought to understand the complex origins, history, current usage, and validity of “excited delirium” by pursuing multiple strands of inquiry.
Origins and History
Key Definitions
Bell’s Mania
In 1849, Dr. Luther Bell, a Massachusetts physician at the McLean Asylum for the Insane, described cases of primarily female psychiatric patients who experienced symptoms and signs such as overactivity, delusions, transient hallucinations, sleeplessness, and fevers, typically over days to weeks, and in some cases resulting in death. This constellation of signs and symptoms has been called Bell’s Mania, delirious mania, acute maniacal delirium, lethal catatonia, and, later, chronic “excited de...
Wetli and Fishbain
The introduction of the term “excited delirium” in the 1980s has been attributed to Drs. David Fishbain and Charles Wetli. In the early 1980s, at the University of Miami, Fishbain was director of psychiatric emergency services, and Wetli was a forensic pathologist. In 1981, Wetli and Fishbain co-authored a case report of cocaine intoxication in a person who swallowed packets of cocaine in order to store them within their body, termed “bodypacker.”Wetli and Fishbain described the resulting del...
International Human Rights Law
The United States is also bound by international human rights law, as are the countries to which the term “excited delirium” has spread – Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom, among others. International law includes important standards related to the multiple contexts in which the term is used, addressing protection from excessive and potentially lethal force; protection from discrimination based on race or disability in encounters with law enforcement; protection from discrimination in...
“Excited delirium” is not a valid, independent medical diagnosis. There is no clear or consistent definition, established etiology, or agreed upon underlying pathophysiology. As a result, there are no diagnostic standards for “excited delirium.” In general, there is a lack of scientific data, and even the body of literature that mentions “excited d...
To the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP):
1. Revise position on “excited delirium” based on the evidence, recognizing that it is not a valid medical diagnosis and cannot be a cause of death; 1.1. Note the racist origins and usage of “excited delirium” and the need for further study of racial disparities in its application; 2. Rescind all previous white papers that support “excited delirium” as a distinct entity separate from other forms of delirium; and 2.1. Be transparent about conflicts of interest in previous position statements;...
To the National Association of Medical Examiners (NAME):
1. Issue a statement on “excited delirium” based on the evidence, recognizing that it is not a valid medical diagnosis and cannot be a cause of death; 1.1. Note the racist origins and usage of “excited delirium” and the need for further study of racial disparities in its application; and 2. Conduct an investigation into structural, political, and other factors affecting the independence of medical examiners when investigating deaths in law enforcement custody, and report the findings publicly.
To Individual Medical Examiners, Forensic Pathologists, and Coroners:
1. Ensure that “excited delirium” is not used as either a sole or a contributing cause in death certification.
Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) thanks the courageous survivors and families who have lost loved ones to police violence, without whom this report would not have been possible. In particular, we thank Robert Collins, Joe Prude, Bella Quinto-Collins, and Cassandra Quinto-Collins for their bravery in sharing their stories with us. This report was w...
Interview with Robert Collins, Bella Quinto-Collins, and Cassandra Quinto-Collins, Oct. 29, 2021. See also, John L. Burris, Ayana C. Curry, Ben Nisenbaum, Dewitt M. Lacy, James A. Cook, Kenneth Chike Odiwe, and Tonia Robinson, Law Offices of John L. Burris, “RE: Request for Endorsed Copy Verifying Administrative Claim Received – Law Offices of John...
Apr 19, 2021 · 94. For many observers, the trial of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer charged in George Floyd’s death, has felt like the culmination of years of outrage and grief over police ...
Jun 7, 2023 · Profile of Emerging Adults Sentenced to LWOP. This analysis compiles sentencing data across 20 states inclusive of years 1995 through 2017. Though fewer than half the states, the people reflected in these data encompass 70% of the country’s life-without-parole (LWOP) population. 8 Additionally, these years encapsulate the period of sharpest rise in mass incarceration overall, years during ...
