Senator Chris Coons joined colleagues of both political parties to support legislation that would improve access to mental health services for people who come into contact with the criminal justice system and provide law enforcement officers the tools they need to identify and respond to mental health issues in the community.
People with mental health conditions are disproportionately arrested and incarcerated. In fact, the president of the Major Counties Sheriffs Association recently estimated that up to 30% of inmates under his supervision have mental health conditions. Using our criminal justice system as a mental health system places our law enforcement officers in danger, inundates our courts with cases involving the mentally ill, and is costly to taxpayers who foot the bill for high incarceration costs and overcrowded correction facilities.
The Justice & Mental Health Collaboration Act (JMHCA), which was introduced on Wednesday by Senator Al Franken (D-Minn.) and cosponsored by Senator Coons, attempts to fix these problems by reauthorizing and improving the Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Act (MIOTCRA).
JMHCA will:
• Continue support for mental health courts and crisis intervention teams, both of which save lives and money;
• Emphasize evidence-based practices that have been proven effective through rigorous study;
• Authorize investments in veterans treatment courts, which serve arrested veterans who suffer from PTSD, substance addiction, and other mental health conditions;
• Support the development of curricula for police academies and orientations;
• Increase focus on corrections-based programs, like transitional services that reduce recidivism rates and screening practices that identify inmate with mental health conditions; and
• Give local officials greater control over program participation eligibility.
Both MIOTCRA and JMHCA are bipartisan pieces of legislation that have received support in both the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives. Across the country, 170 organizations have endorsed JHMCA, including leading law enforcement and corrections groups, veterans’ services organizations, and mental health advocates.
Click here to learn more about Chris’ work to help our law enforcement officers.