NCJ Number
80803
Date Published
1981
Length
81 pages
Annotation
The New Orleans misdemeanant justice system's current response to psychiatric patients contacting the system are examined, and proposals are offered for better community handling of this population.
Abstract
The increased involvement of psychiatric patients in the New Orleans criminal justice system has occurred largely because of a series of policy changes enacted in recent years in the hospital system. Funding cutbacks, civil rights actions, and changes in treatment attitude in the late 1960's resulted in a policy of deinstitutionalization of psychiatric patients and an accompanying decrease in bed space maintained by psychiatric hospitals. Community mental health centers have been faced with overwhelming caseloads. The number of unsupervised mentally ill persons in contact with the criminal justice system has increased and in many cases, the criminal justice system has become a primary referral source for linking former psychiatric patients with community mental health services. The proposals presented refer primarily to those persons who were psychiatric patients prior to their entry into the criminal justice system and who inadvertently became involved in the criminal justice system due to inadequacies in the mental health system. The recommendations primarily call for some reevaluation of the applicable State laws to allow for the Department of Health and Human Resources to assume increased responsibility for this population, to reduce the need for the misdemeanant justice system's involvement in mental health issues, and to ensure more appropriate admissions and treatment responses for psychiatric patients without the need for criminal justice involvement and consequent treatment delays. Appended are relevant Louisiana statutes and elements of the New Orleans criminal code, as well as a sample of a petition for judicial commitment.