Decriminalizing mental illness
Posted May 30, 2024 in Press Releases
Policymakers can reduce involuntary commitments by filling the crisis care gap
Forced treatment for mental illness — known as “involuntary commitment,” “civil commitment,” and “pink-slipping” — highlights the overlap between Ohio’s health care and criminal legal systems. A new Policy Matters report, Involuntary commitment and the crisis care gap, describes how the practice strains both systems, and how proposed legislation would make matters worse. It also recommends policy fixes, including better funding for non-police care response programs — the subject of another report from Policy Matters, released earlier this week, based on a survey of people with direct experience with first-responders in Cleveland and Cuyahoga County.
“Too many Ohioans encounter a gap between the onset of symptoms and the moment they meet criteria for crisis admission to a mental health facility,” said report author Kathryn Poe. “That means people don’t receive the care they need until they are already in crisis. At that point, they may exhibit behaviors that, in the absence of a well-resourced mental health system, draw a response from police. This is an example of how, in practice, we’ve criminalized mental illness.”
The report includes findings related to a 66% reduction in the number of involuntary commitments in the state since 2019, a trend that may not be as positive as it appears: “More than ninety percent of beds in Ohio’s psychiatric hospitals are filled by people who’ve been remanded there by courts, to ensure they are fit to stand trial,” Poe said. “For people in pre-trial detention that treatment should be provided in jail; those out on bail should be able to access an outpatient facility. But Ohio’s jails and mental health system are so poorly resourced that they cannot meet the mental health treatment requirements imposed by the courts.”
Pending legislation to reform Ohio’s system for involuntary commitment would be ineffective, Poe said. “House Bill 249 misses the mark.” The bill would expand the circumstances in which a person could be involuntarily committed, but does nothing to improve access to care before a person is in crisis. “Worse still, it encourages the most extreme, life-altering form of mental health care, sometimes in cases where it may not be necessary,” Poe said. “One bad day shouldn’t impact the rest of someone’s life. Involuntary commitment should never be the first option.”