Decriminalizing Mental Illness: Specialized Policing Responses

Chapter 17 - Decriminalizing Mental Illness: Specialized Policing Responses

from Part II - Solutions

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 October 2021

Charles Dempsey ,

Cameron Quanbeck ,

Clarissa Bush and

Kelly Kruger

Edited by

Katherine Warburton and

Stephen M. Stahl

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Katherine Warburton: Affiliation:
University of California, Davis
Stephen M. Stahl: Affiliation:
University of California, San Diego

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Summary

The criminalization of persons suffering from a mental illness continues to be a urgent public health concern, a resource-draining criminal justice problem, and an overarching societal issue, not only in the state of California, but also across the United States and the world. With the advent of deinstitutionalization, which was codified by the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act (Cal. Welf and Inst. Code, sec. 5000 et seq.) in 1967 in the State of California and subsequent legislations across the nation, states could no longer simply lock a person with mental illness away in a mental health facility or sanitarium, which violated their constitutional right to due process. The intent of the Lanterman– Petris–Short Act was to move away from the numerous state-run institutions and create a community-based treatment model, providing mental health services in least restrictive environments.

Type: Chapter
Information: Decriminalizing Mental Illness , pp. 174 - 190

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108920698 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2021

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