Ny Panel Says Mental Health, Criminal Justice Systems Flawed
tate and city officials report that flaws in the mental health and criminal justice systems have contributed to violence in people with serious mental illness.
A panel was charged with studying the issue after several high profile incidents of violence involving suspects with mental illness _ including the case of a New York City psychotherapist who was hacked to death with a meat cleaver and a Georgia man accused of randomly stabbing two people on 2nd Avenue in Manhattan.
The panel’s report identified a series of problems, including poor coordination, fragmented oversight and lack of accountability in the mental health system. The panel also found that the quality of care for people with mental health problems is inconsistent.
The report criticizes both systems for a limited capacity to share information with each other, and for insufficient training, supports and tools to identify and help people with mental illness.
“While dedicated clinicians and programs provide high quality care to hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers with mental illnesses every year, (the state’s) mental health system is exceptionally large, and it is therefore quite difficult to track and facilitate access to quality care for those most in need.”
“Taking a hard look at what may have gone wrong in particular cases is a necessary first step toward improving the care and treatment of those with serious mental illnesses _ both in the mental health care system and when those persons become involved with the criminal justice system,” Paterson said in a written statement. “And the state is prepared to move forward in implementing the panel’s recommendations.”
In New York City, officials want to create a database that would allow teams to monitor care for adults with the most need and give the staff the ability to take action if there is an interruption in service, or an escalating need for care.
Bloomberg and Paterson have also proposed a pilot program that would share information between the criminal justice and mental health treatment systems to identify people with serious mental illnesses.
Tags: criminal justice system, georgia man, health, health care, health care system, health problems, high quality care, illnesses, limited capacity, Mental Health, mental health care, mental health problems, mental health treatment, mental illness, mental illnesses, new york city psychotherapist, new yorkers, officials report, people with mental illness, poor coordination, share information