Why New York City must solve its mental health crisis

opinion

by Carolyn D. Gorman

Last Monday, another commuter was pushed to his death on the subway by an emotionally disturbed person.

Violent crime is widespread in the metro, often involving untreated mentally ill people. How many more people will be hurt or killed before New York City and state authorities address both crime and mental illness?

The New York Police Department announced early Monday that it would add hundreds of officers to keep subways safe.

Governor Hochul introduced the National Guard earlier this month.

In February, Mayor Adams added “more than 1,000 uniformed officers to our transit system.”

However, the police alone will not solve the problem. Two other things have to happen to him. Crimes need to be punished, and two, the mental health system has to start focusing on the severely mentally ill.

The police are already doing their part.

Officers are taking people with obvious signs of mental illness to prisons and hospitals, but accountability ends there. NYPD Transportation Commissioner Mike Kemper said passengers who are brought in often return. . . Sometimes within hours. ”

Like many of the other perpetrators, yesterday’s 24-year-old Carlton McPherson reportedly suffered from mental illness and had been arrested multiple times, including for assault, but was released on bail in January. . This was after he never appeared in court twice.

Rather than subjecting the police to an endless cycle of behavior, often involving the same people, criminals and the mental health system should be held accountable after police intervention.

Bail reform and legal discovery reform Involuntary treatment of people showing clear signs of mental disorder should be used only in rare cases and when necessary.

Some advocates decry any treatment that is not voluntary, whether or not it is patient-centered.

But for many people with the most severe mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders, taking responsibility is a sign of a successful program.

Let’s take the Kendra method as an example. This is a state law for court-mandated outpatient treatment for a small number of people with severe mental illness who have a history of repeated hospitalizations and arrests for non-compliance.

A law passed in 1999 went into effect accurately To prevent subway push-ins and other tragedies related to mental illness.

It promotes government accountability and equitable access to health care, and has been shown to reduce violence and incarceration by more than 70% each.

If there are too few consequences for breaking the law, whether mentally ill or not, some of the useful programs meant to connect people to treatment could stop working.

Consider mental health courts and drug treatment courts, where offenders accept court-ordered treatment in exchange for their sentences.

Potential participants are incentivized to opt into these programs when the message is sent that no crime will go unpunished. intention If you hold them accountable, it will be completely erased.

Naturally, participation in drug court and mental health court. have It plummeted.

Mayor Adams and Governor Hochul have placed more emphasis on the severely mentally ill than their respective predecessors.

In particular, Hochul’s push to expand inpatient psychiatric bed capacity would help reduce the frequency with which patients receive treatment and then are left without stable conditions.

Bed capacity is needed because for people like McPherson, outpatient treatment may not provide enough monitoring to keep them stable and avoid violence.

But cities and states still spend too much of their tax dollars on ineffective programs that prioritize people with serious mental illness over “worry wells,” or people who are more likely to just be having a bad day. is spent.

What can make the average New Yorker or transit worker less anxious about being killed, shoved, stabbed, shot, raped, robbed, or otherwise assaulted? I feel like I can ride the subway without fear.

If we don’t crack down on crimes ranging from assault to jumping, New Yorkers may stop caring if someone is mentally ill. They will want the perpetrators simply put behind bars.

New Yorkers need to know that even typical criminals can be held accountable.

To protect the safety of the public, including the mentally ill, we need a criminal justice system that is actually fair.

Carolyn D. Gorman is a Paulson Policy Analyst at the Manhattan Institute.