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Victim of crime issues

People with a mental illness are often depicted in the media and in popular culture as violent, dangerous and aggressive.²¹⁹ Yet the literature shows that overwhelmingly, people with a mental illness are themselves the victims of assault, sexual assault, domestic violence and child abuse.²²⁰ For this study, 12 participants reported having been the victim of a crime: three reported sexual assault, five reported general assault, five reported having been victims of child abuse, and one reported being the victim of severe domestic violence. For example:

I was raped when I was six months pregnant with my daughter, by a stranger.²²¹

I got dragged off the street and raped by two guys who were high on something.²²²

They came around because my husband had put me on fire and then tipped scalding water over me.²²³

Many service providers interviewed for this study, particularly mental health workers and solicitors who undertake domestic violence and victims compensation matters, reported having clients with past histories of abuse, sexual assault and domestic violence:²²⁴

I have a client who … between the age of 5 and about 14 … kept on getting in trouble with the police. It turned out that the reason why she kept on getting in trouble with the police was [she was being sexually abused] and she was being bailed to the perpetrator … She kept on getting in trouble with the police because going to jail was a lot safer than being bailed to this man. She has subsequently, understandably, had severe drug and alcohol problems; her life now is flitting between Bloomfield [psychiatric] hospital and Mulawa women’s prison. When she gets out, all she wants to do is go back in, because that is where she feels safe, in jail, because her outside life is horrible.²²⁵

A woman [with a mental illness] with older teenage children … suffered 23 years of violent abuse at the hands of her husband (who) was convicted as recently as July of assault upon her, causing actual bodily harm. He was put onto a 2-year-long good behaviour bond and a 2-year-long AVO to stay away from her. That worked for 2 weeks. He is abusing his eldest daughter as a way of getting back at his wife.²²⁶

Not only do some people with a mental illness have prior histories of trauma, but the experience of mental illness can also lead to people being more vulnerable to abuse and trauma. Consultations indicated that people with a mental illness are very vulnerable to sexual exploitation and sexual assault:

I had a client in Dubbo, who was 19, and we were doing a section 63 application for child support. You have to do a DNA test to see who the father was, and she sat down with me with this baby, and said “oh I had sex with eight men that night”. This group of blokes picked her up, took her back to their hotel room and had sex, took turns with her.²²⁷

People with a mental illness are vulnerable to homelessness,²²⁸ and are often forced to live on the streets and in boarding houses, where it is reported they are further exposed to abuse. A 1998 study of homeless people living in inner-city Sydney found that “75% of all homeless people using inner-city hostels and refuges had had a mental disorder (including schizophrenia, alcohol use disorders, drug use disorders, and mood and anxiety disorders) in the previous 12 months”.²²⁹ This 1998 study also found that “93% of homeless people in the inner city have experienced at least one major trauma event” (such as serious physical assault, rape and witnessing someone being killed) in their lives.²³⁰ A caseworker interviewed for this study reported having received

reports of boarding house staff having [not treated] the clients in the manner that they should be treated. There have been a number of instances where people have been verbally abused … other instances where reports of physical abuse have occurred … Other instances where one person with a health problem has physically or verbally abused another resident of the house, and no action has been taken by staff at the boarding house.²³¹

Service providers also reported that people can be vulnerable to abuse in psychiatric institutions.²³² An official visitor alleged that instances of theft, assault and general aggressive behaviour committed by other patients are reported, more so in public mental health facilities than in private hospitals.²³³ The Burdekin Report stated that there had been many submissions to the inquiry about the abuse of people with a mental illness, by both staff and other patients in hospital. HREOC maintained that the rate of sexual assaults among patients was particularly disturbing.²³⁴ One participant in our study articulated her fears of being assaulted in hospital:

I feared I would get raped. I was so sedated I don’t know if I was being touched or not … I believe there should be a security patrol once or twice a night just for patients to feel safe and to ensure that patient social conduct is within policy and not in breach (e.g. verbal and physical threats, assault, rape and illicit drug use).²³⁵

A recent study conducted by the Victorian Disability Discrimination Legal Service found that women with cognitive impairment (including women with cognitive impairment from mental illness) are particularly vulnerable to abuse, particularly those who are homeless or living in boarding houses or institutional settings.²³⁶