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Saturday, May 05, 2007
Ind. Courts - Legislature broadens eligibility for forensic diversion program
A Fort Wayne Journal Gazette editorial Friday began:
Most mental health and criminal justice professionals agree it’s important to keep people with mental illness out of the criminal justice system whenever possible. They argue that helping them get into treatment programs offers the best chance of getting their lives back on track.The bill is HEA 1437 - access it here.That’s what the state’s “forensic diversion” program is designed to do, and legislators last week knocked a significant kink out of the law that created it. They approved a bill that broadens eligibility for the program and should help focus more resources on people with mental illness.
The original law required participants to have either a substance-abuse problem or a diagnosed mental illness. The change broadens eligibility to include people who have both substance-abuse problems and mental illness. Sen. David Long, R-Fort Wayne, who authored the original law, said the change should clear up a glitch in how the law has been interpreted in some courts and make it clear that people with both mental illness and substance addiction problems are eligible.
Created in 2004, the diversion program now allows an adult diagnosed with a mental illness, substance addiction or both and charged with a non-violent offense to request admission by the court. A participant can’t be released from the program without a court order.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on May 5, 2007 07:05 PM
Posted to Indiana Courts