Michigan: Legislation to create mental health courts passes senate

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2. Mental Health America (MHA) Policy statement on Mental Health Courts

Mental Health America (MHA):

Supports the use of mental health courts to the extent that they reduce the number of persons with mental illnesses in the criminal justice system, reduce the number of persons with mental illnesses who are further stigmatized by a criminal conviction and reduce the number of persons with mental illnesses in prisons and jails.

Supports the use of mental health courts which are part of a larger effort to divert persons with mental illnesses from the criminal justice system by improving mental health services and providing diversion at the earliest possible stage.

Encourages jurisdictions to follow those mental health court models which use the least possible coercion.

Opposes mental health courts which are intended or result in bringing more people with mental illnesses into the criminal justice system, whether as an effort to expand civil commitment through the coercion of criminal justice diversion and sentencing procedures or as a misguided panacea to “solve” homelessness and other social problems or make scarce treatment resources available to a subset of those in need. At the extreme, mental health courts run the risk of taking over a portion of the treatment system to the effective exclusion of civil commitment and its standards.

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http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/positions/mental-health-courts