Seattle University Collaborative Projects - International Academy of ...

United States, these courts vary greatly and this study will provide the opportunity tocompare and contrast the effects of different operational strategies.International Human Rights and Mental Health CourtsAndrea Risoli, New York Law School (andrea@risolilaw.com )This presentation will address the implementation of mental health courts and whether theymight be productive in an international setting. The presence of defendants with mental illnessesin the criminal justice system imposes substantial costs on that system and substantial harm onoffenders. It is difficult, if not impossible, to provide humane and just treatment to persons withmental illnesses in prisons. Where domestic legal proceedings fail to address human rightsabuses, mechanisms and procedures for individual complaints or communications are availableat the regional and international levels to help ensure that international human rights standardsare indeed respected, implemented, and enforced at the local level. There is an inherent potentialfor abuse of these obligations in the term criminalization of the mentally ill at the local levels ofgovernment and justice systems throughout the world.By default, correctional systems have become the greatest providers of treatment for the mentallyill. But correctional systems are poorly designed to be treatment providers. There are alsousually too few mental health care professionals available to treat prisoners. In addition, turnoveramong correctional staff and mental health care staff can be destabilizing for the mentally ill andcan also lead to problems with continuity of care and recidivism. An alternative to this problemis the implementation of wide-ranging mental health courts in order to provide a least restrictivealternative and ultimate treatment regimen in lieu of the prison setting for mentally illindividuals.Mental health courts link offenders who would ordinarily be prison-bound to long-termcommunity-based treatment. They rely on mental health assessments, individualized treatmentplans, and ongoing judicial monitoring to address both the mental health needs of offenders andpublic safety concerns of communities. Like other problem-solving courts such as drug courts,domestic violence courts, and community courts, mental health courts seek to address theunderlying problems that contribute to criminal behavior.An international mental health court would reduce the number of mentally ill persons in thecriminal justice systems by improving mental health treatment at an earlier age and reducehomelessness. Nevertheless at the extreme end a mental health court can encroach upon the civilinvoluntary commitment standards already in place. But at best, mental health courts focus ontreatment rather than prison, which is a quandary to be reckoned with in any jurisdiction.Increased reliance on the criminal justice system to provide treatment to persons with mentalillnesses is almost certainly always counter-productive. Indeed, only a well-designed mentalhealth court would ensure success. A well-designed mental health court could reduce recidivismamong participants, improve mental health outcomes, and reduce the rate of incarceration forpersons suffering from mental illness. To be sure, mental health courts are a relatively newconcept that is still developing and evolving, but it is a viable alternative to an ongoing problem447