http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/?newsid=15920
Mentally Ill Offenders
"The Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Act (S. 1194) of 2004, which will improve access to mental health services for adult and juvenile non-violent offenders, was signed into law by the President on October 30. The bill was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on October 6 and by the Senate on October 11.
'This law places critical resources where they are needed most, on the front lines,' says Russ Newman, Ph.D., J.D., APA's executive director for professional practice. 'It will improve collaboration among the criminal justice, juvenile justice, mental health and substance abuse treatment systems. It will ensure that both adult and juvenile non-violent offenders with mental health disorders are identified properly and receive the treatment they need from the point of arrest to re-entry into the community, and are not simply recycled into the system.'
