FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Oct. 12, 2004
Contact: Chris Burley, Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, 202-467-5730
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Lawmakers Pass Mental Health / Criminal Justice Bill
WASHINGTON, DC (OCT. 12, 2004)—The Senate yesterday gave final
approval to a bill to address the growing numbers of people with
mental illnesses in the criminal justice system.
The Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Act (S.
1194)—introduced by Representative Ted Strickland (D-OH) and
Senator Mike DeWine (R-OH)—was approved unanimously by the
Senate after House lawmakers also unanimously approved the bill last
week.
“The criminal justice system is being overwhelmed by a wave
of adults and children with mental health needs,” said Laurel
Stine, director of federal relations at the Bazelon Center for Mental
Health Law. “S. 1194’s passage is a crucial step toward
promoting effective alternatives to needless and harmful incarceration.”
Sixteen percent of all adult inmates in U.S. prisons and jails have
a mental illness, according to a landmark 1999 Department of Justice
report. In fact, 70 percent of people with mental illnesses in jails
are there for non-violent offenses.
S. 1194 would authorize $50 million in federal funding for grants
to states to support pre- and post-booking interventions, including
crisis intervention teams and law enforcement training, mental health
courts and other court-based approaches, re-entry and transitional
programs. The bill establishes one-year planning grants and five-year
implementation grants that would require states to increase their
share of funding for the program in later grant years.
“
More work must be done to address the criminalization of mental illness,
but S. 1194 is a solid foundation for reform,” said Stine. “This
bill will help keep people with mental illnesses from being inappropriately
incarcerated and support their efforts to live more successful lives
in the community.”
S. 1194 will now be sent to the White House, where advocates believe
President Bush will sign the bill into law.
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The Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law is a national legal advocate
for the rights of people with mental disabilities.
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