The legislation takes aim at the backlog of defendants deemed mentally incompetent to stand trial, creating a diversion program for those accused of low-level crimes
Judges should not be the first line against mental illness.
That would actually be an improvement over the current situation where the first line is just a jail cell with an indefinite stay
About 400 people deemed mentally incompetent to stand trial are sitting in Colorado jail cells this week waiting for a bed in a state mental health hospital, some of them for longer than a year and many for misdemeanor offenses.
It’s a “human rights crisis” and an endless, expensive cycle that state lawmakers are trying to stop. Legislation that passed its first hearing 11-0 on Tuesday at the state Capitol would divert people accused of low-level crimes into mental health treatment instead of requiring them to be “restored to competency,” a process for which the waitlist is months long.
Eventually, it definitely would be nice if these people didn’t have to be run through the criminal justice system at all to get the treatment they need, but this is what generations of lawmakers who only ever wanted to do domestic spending for cops has left us with
Judges should be involved, but involved in civil psych holds, not criminal charges. A judge being involved means the person being held has an opportunity to tell that judge why they don’t require psych treatment, and the doc holding them must explain their rationale in court filings. The courts definitely need to remain involved in that system, otherwise people’s due process would be violated.
No, but these are people who were arrested for various criminal charges and who were already found not competent to stand trial. Either way, I’d bet an overwhelming majority of them would require involuntary treatment, even if they had no criminal charges. Point being, a judge isn’t the front line of mental health response, but it will be for individuals who need treatment but are refusing.
Good.
Judges should not be the first line against mental illness.
That would actually be an improvement over the current situation where the first line is just a jail cell with an indefinite stay
Eventually, it definitely would be nice if these people didn’t have to be run through the criminal justice system at all to get the treatment they need, but this is what generations of lawmakers who only ever wanted to do domestic spending for cops has left us with
Judges should be involved, but involved in civil psych holds, not criminal charges. A judge being involved means the person being held has an opportunity to tell that judge why they don’t require psych treatment, and the doc holding them must explain their rationale in court filings. The courts definitely need to remain involved in that system, otherwise people’s due process would be violated.
Yes.
However a judge should not be the first line.
No, but these are people who were arrested for various criminal charges and who were already found not competent to stand trial. Either way, I’d bet an overwhelming majority of them would require involuntary treatment, even if they had no criminal charges. Point being, a judge isn’t the front line of mental health response, but it will be for individuals who need treatment but are refusing.
That’s what we said in the 80’s when Reagan first fucked it up horribly.
Goddamn that was forty years ago