Mind's key findings

Community Safety

• 18 per cent of respondents rarely felt safe in their community
• Only just over half felt safe in their own home most or all the time.

Prevalence of victimisation

• 71 per cent of respondents had been victimised in the community at least once in the past two years and felt this to be related to their mental health history
• 41 per cent of respondents were the victims of ongoing bullying
• 34 per cent had been the victim of theft of their money or valuables, from their person or from their bank account
• 27 per cent had been sexually harassed and 10 per cent had been sexually assaulted
• 22 per cent had been physically assaulted.

Reporting victimisation

• 30 per cent of respondents who had been victims in the community told no one at all what had happened to them
• 45 per cent of respondents who had been a victim of crime in hospital did not tell a member of staff.

Rates of satisfaction with the criminal justice system

• 64 per cent of victims of crime or harassment in our survey were completely or somewhat dissatisfied with the overall response of the authorities to reporting the incident
• Just 6 per cent were completely satisfied with the outcome of their case.

Key barriers to justice

• Tensions between the police and people with mental distress, which deters victims form coming forward
• Poor mental health awareness, which prevents vulnerable victims from being identified and supported
• People with mental distress being seen as unreliable witnesses, causing cases to be dropped at the investigation stage or before they reach court
• Crimes happening in hospitals being down-played by members of staff.

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