Source: Milad Fakurian
Writer: Elizabeth Tessier
Editor: Cecelia Maillis
March 28, 2024
The Fourteenth Amendment guarantees equal protection to all citizens. But how can we really ensure that holds true for those who have mental illness? Mental Health Courts are specialized court programs that try to address the intersection of mental illness or disabilities and the criminal justice system. This is a recent emergence in the legal system that is using collaboration from professionals in law and mental health fields to decrease these individuals' contact with the criminal justice system and provide them with more effective and helpful resources to mitigate the impact of their illness/provide treatment. Due to the specialization of such courts and the recent emergence of them just before the 21st century, there are only a few hundred of these courts spreading across the nation. The demand for these courts has increased along with the growing population of those with mental illness who are not being treated equitably or appropriately in the criminal justice system.
The staff and legal professionals in these dockets are familiar with the mental health field and can assist in providing appropriate services and rehabilitation for offenders. According to Psychiatry Online, “Court interventions developed for mentally ill detainees include pre- and post-booking programs, mental health services provided in jails, and linkage to services after conviction and release” (Watson et al., 2001). The goal is to divert these individuals from more days incarcerated and provide services to reduce recidivism chances.
Though these courts are used to help process and treat mentally ill individuals caught up in legal trouble, they are not to be confused with being an alternative for mental health care systems. Rather, these courts are used to “reduce the number of persons with mental illnesses in the criminal justice system, reduce the number of persons with mental illnesses who are further stigmatized by a criminal conviction and reduce the number of persons with mental illnesses in prisons and jails” (Mental Health America, 2019). The hope is to divert these individuals from the legal system early on and to get them the assistance they need to live a sustainable life without being thrown back into the seemingly endless cycle of the criminal justice system.
As this specialized court system continues to expand, it is notable to acknowledge the steps taken to provide a more equitable process for the rising number of individuals with mental illness who face legal prosecution. It is also important to highlight that these courts are intended to help reduce the number of these individuals in the penal system and should not be used as a primary provider for services nor should they be used to criminalize additional mentally ill individuals into the system who are otherwise not committing criminal acts.
References
Mental Health Courts. (2019). Mental Health America.
Watson, A., Hanrahan, P., Luchins, D., & Lurigio, A. (2001). Mental Health Courts and the
Complex Issue of Mentally Ill Offenders. Psychiatric Services, 52(4), 477–481. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ps.52.4.477
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