That’s the title of this article, which I really like, except for the title and portions that focus on “saving taxpayers money,” as if that was the most important aspect of treating people with mental illnesses in a just and decent way. Anyway, below is a short excerpt:
Mental health courts that sentence people with mental illness who are convicted of misdemeanors and low-level felonies to treatment instead of jail have the potential to save taxpayers money, according to a RAND Corporation study conducted for the Council of State Governments Justice Center.
“Justice, Treatment, and Cost: An Evaluation of the Fiscal Impact of Allegheny County Mental Health Court,” was funded by the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare and the Staunton Farm Foundation. The study issued today by RAND, a nonprofit research organization, is the first to look at the fiscal impact of a mental health court anywhere in the United States.
“This study examined the Allegheny County Mental Health Court in Pittsburgh, but the findings are likely applicable to many of the other approximately 120 mental health courts around the United States,” said M. Susan Ridgely, the lead researcher on the report and an attorney.
The goals of the mental health courts are to link individuals convicted of non-violent crimes to community-based treatment for mental illness, alcoholism and drug addiction when appropriate in order to reduce their jail time and to get them the help they need to reduce the chance they will commit new crimes. …
Read the whole thing here. You can access the study it is describing here. A summary of the study is accessible here. Via The Trouble With Spikol.
–Ann Bartow
