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Albert Graham,
Backyard Pool Drainer
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Many consumer's are concerned about Mental Health Courts being used to inforce medication.
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Brian Mengel,
Civil Servant
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There is undoubtedly a role for child mental health specialists to provide assessments and recommendations to the Courts in particularly complex cases.
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Ben Werner,
Student Newspaper Editor
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The establishment of mental health courts is rapidly emerging as one of the most successful strategies to address the stark reality that jails and prisons have become the nation's depository for people with severe mental illnesses.
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Arthur Dawkins,
Astro-physicist
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This is a controversial practice and process that relies upon a theory that has been increasingly rejected as both unscientific and unproven in the courts and by many mental health professionals.
The Mental Health Act already leaves undefined the concept of mental illness and the courts have held that the term should be interpreted in the way that "ordinary sensible people" would interpret it.
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Thomas Owens,
Police Officer
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Mental health courts have proven effective in curbing the growing trend of "criminalization" of mental illness by giving courts and prosecutors the tools needed to divert offenders with severe mental illnesses into treatment programs, rather than jails.
Mental health courts, more and better police training, and diversion of non-violent offenders into treatment instead of incarceration are recommended.
This position paper from the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law examines the use of mental health courts in the United States as a response by communities to the increasingly common arrest and incarceration of people with serious mental illnesses.
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Bob Greenberg,
Congressional Candidate
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Since 2001 Legal Aid Center organized by Armenian Mental Health Foundation provides legal protection in courts and consultations for people with mnetal health problems and mental disabilities.
Courts and mental health professionals who work in family law have long acknowledged the importance to children of continuity, primary attachment and stability, particularly at the time of separation, a time of crisis and upset for many children.
Given the breadth of the definition of mental disorder fewer than half those appearing before the courts are likely to escape the possibility of being sent for a mental health report under this provision.
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