If You Go To Mental Health Court, Be Careful What You Wish For
Being found not guilty by reason of insanity has always been cold comfort, in the rare instances in which courts have issued this verdict. Undergoing inpatient treatment for mental illness is not a pleasant experience, even if the event that precipitates your admission to the psychiatric hospital is only a doctor’s appointment where your doctor refers you for inpatient treatment or a terrible feeling that you should go to a hospital and tell them that you are having a mental health crisis before something worse happens. It is even worse when it is the end of a series of events that began with you getting arrested on charges of drug possession, domestic violence, or some other crime. The days of straitjackets and frontal lobotomies are in the past, at least in theory, but mental health services still leave much to be desired. Allegheny County acknowledges that, when crimes are only a manifestation of a person’s untreated or insufficiently managed mental illness, simply imposing criminal penalties instead of addressing the underlying mental health condition makes things worse. If you got arrested and must now go to Mental Health Court, contact a Pittsburgh criminal defense lawyer.
An Alternative to Criminal Court for People With Mental Illnesses
Much like juvenile courts and drug courts, Allegheny County’s Mental Health Court (MHC) is a “problem-solving court” that aims at restorative justice. When people with a pre-existing diagnosis of a mental illness, including but not limited to substance use disorder, get arrested for a non-violent crime, spending time in jail will only make it harder for them to stay on the right side of the law. Therefore, they can avoid jail time by participating in MHC. To be eligible, defendants must plead guilty to their charges; MHC administers alternative consequences instead of the usual sentence for the charge of which the defendant was convicted. The goal of these alternative consequences is to help the defendant manage his or her mental health, but it does not always work.
In the News
The first problem with MHC is that many defendants wait in jail before a space in MHC opens up for them; some have stayed in jail as long as a defendant convicted at trial would have stayed. How feasible it is to comply with the MHC conditions is a roll of the dice, as it is when you are on probation after a criminal conviction. The difference, according to a report on The Appeal, is that the MHC judges treat you like you are in kindergarten, giving you Star Wars themed trinkets if you comply with your terms, and threatening you with jail if you don’t. Worst of all, MHC does not ensure that every defendant has a defense lawyer, like criminal court does. If you go to MHC, be sure to have your criminal defense lawyer by your side.
Contact Gary E. Gerson About Criminal Defense Cases
A criminal defense lawyer can help you exercise your rights in Mental Health Court. Contact the law offices of Gary E. Gerson in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania about your case.
Source:
theappeal.org/pittsburgh-mental-health-court/
