Judges must divert more cases to mental health treatment, task force says

(Reuters) – U.S. court systems must do a better job of diverting people in some cases to mental health treatment and establish new best practices for cases involving people with behavioral health problems, according to a task force that spent the last two years studying mental health in the court system.

The National Center for State Courts, creator of the task force, said at least 70% of people in the nation’s jails and prisons have been diagnosed with a mental illness or substance use disorder, and people with mental illness are 10 times more likely to be put in jail than in a hospital.

The working group said in a report made it known Tuesday that judges are in a unique position to direct people to pre-arranged resources that can help them with their mental health issues.

The report says that people charged with low-risk and misdemeanor crimes often wait in jail for long periods of time for mental health evaluations and must be referred directly to treatment. He also said that courts should prioritize timely competency-related evaluations to deal with trial evaluations.

Additionally, the report recommended expanding involuntary treatment to include not only those who “pose an imminent risk of harm” but also those who show other signs of mental illness. These interventions can prevent homelessness, poverty and related health problems, according to the report.

The National Judicial Task Force to Examine State Court Responses to Mental Illness was created in March 2020 by the National Center for State Courts, a nonprofit organization with a mission to improve judicial systems in the US. USA

The task force is comprised of a group of judges, attorneys, and community members, including co-chairs Chief Justice Paul Reiber of Vermont and Chief Administrative Judge Lawrence Marks of New York.

“I wish the mental health system would do a better job of catching people who end up in the court system early on, but the reality is there are a lot of gaps in services,” said Sarah Vinson, interim president. of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Morehouse School of Medicine, during a virtual presentation on the report on Tuesday.

The report also recommended that state and local courts establish their own commissions to address the specific needs of their communities and create a strong foundation for change.

Over the course of two years, the task force published nearly 100 resources to help implement its recommendations.

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