email article Historically, it was common for people with mental illness to be incarcerated. Many would agree that we are repeating history, with one major difference: people with mental illnesses were not shot by the police like they are today. In this way, people with mental illness, particularly those with severe mental illnesses, may be experiencing circumstances worse than at any time in modern history. A woefully inadequate mental care system has led to an increasing number of police responding to psychiatric crisis calls. Police as crisis responders have been the dominant model for 30 years -- and the results have been deadly.