The defendant talked about her struggle overcoming anger and accepting her need for mental health treatment. When she was done, the judge led the courtroom in applause, stepping down from the bench and posing with her for photos. Five times that day, Judge Theresa R. McGonigle and two colleagues repeated that ritual, offering personal salutes… Continue reading L.A. criminal court program diverts mentally ill offenders from prosecution
Tag: mentally
Editorial: Forcing treatment on mentally ill homeless people is a bad idea
California’s mental health care infrastructure is controversial for the wrong reason. Critics target the groundbreaking Lanterman-Petris-Short Act of 1967 for supposedly filling the streets with drug users and mentally ill people. But LPS, as it is known, didn’t do any of that. It and similar laws adopted in other states simply limited the vast power… Continue reading Editorial: Forcing treatment on mentally ill homeless people is a bad idea