2019 Press Releases

August 23, 2019 – The Judge David L. Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law today issued a review of studies examining the relationship, or lack thereof, between psychiatric disabilities and gun violence. Our review demonstrates that people with psychiatric disabilities are not an appropriate focus for gun violence prevention efforts. Read the release (PDF) and the report (PDF).

July 25, 2019 — The United States District Court for the District of Columbia denied the District’s motion to dismiss a class action filed by the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, Disability Rights DC, the National Center for Youth Law, and Schulte Roth & Zabel. The suit alleges that the District unnecessarily institutionalized hundreds of DC children or placed them at serious risk of institutionalization by failing to provide them essential intensive community-based services as required by federal law. Read the release (PDF).

March 27, 2019 – The Judge David L. Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, a national legal advocacy organization advancing the rights of people with mental disabilities, and 39 other education, privacy, disability rights, and civil rights organizations released ten principles to protect all students’ safety, privacy, and right to an equal education. The principles are meant to serve as a starting point for conversations with policymakers and school officials about how to keep students safe while respecting their dignity and encouraging their individual growth. Read the release (PDF).

January 14, 2019 – The Judge David L. Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, a national legal advocacy organization advancing the rights of people with mental disabilities, announced that it has been awarded a Ford Foundation grant to strengthen advocacy aimed at reducing the incarceration of individuals with mental illness, especially people of color. Read the release (PDF).