Kennedy in support of mentally ill offender treatment and crime reduction legislation

[The Straight Story]

KENNEDY IN SUPPORT OF MENTALLY ILL OFFENDER TREATMENT AND CRIME REDUCTION LEGISLATION
United States Senate Judiciary Committee Executive Meeting
March 6, 2008

Mr. Chairman, it was a privilege to join my colleague from New Mexico, Senator Domenici, in introducing the Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Reauthorization and Improvement Act, and I’m very pleased that we have the strong support of Chairman Leahy and Ranking Member Specter. We all agree that this legislation will promote cooperative initiatives that will significantly reduce recidivism and improve treatment outcomes for these offenders.



The House of Representatives passed the bill on January 23rd with unanimous support, and I hope we’ll have the same progress in the Senate. It’s bipartisan, bicameral legislation to authorize continued federal support for cooperation between the criminal justice and mental health systems on alternatives to jail, correctional treatment, and community reentry of offenders with a mental illness, and cross-training of criminal justice and mental health personnel. With full funding, this proposal has the potential to achieve significant reforms in the treatment of offenders diagnosed with a mental illness.



Based on the most recent studies by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, more than half of all prison and jail inmates had a mental health problem in 2005, including 56% of inmates in state prisons, 45% of federal prisoners, and 64% of jail inmates. The high rate of symptoms of mental illness among jail inmates may reflect the role of local jails in the criminal justice system that operate as locally-run correctional facilities and receive offenders pending arraignment, trial, conviction or sentencing. Local jails also hold mentally ill persons pending their relocation in appropriate mental health facilities.



Far too often, these individuals encounter the criminal justice system when what is really needed is treatment and support for mental illness. Desperate families often resort to the police to obtain treatment for a loved one suffering from an extreme episode of mental illness. When the distress is extreme, families have no other alternative, because persons with symptoms such as paranoia, exaggerated actions or impaired judgment may be unable to recognize the need for treatment.

http://kennedy.senate.gov/newsroom/press_release.cfm?id=178e3364-b688-47f8-89bd-170fcee6c341