Through the War on Drugs and the deinstitutionalization movement, our criminal justice system became quicksand for individuals afflicted with mental illness and substance use disorder. We criminalized minor offenses, imprisoned those who needed treatment rather than incarceration,and provided few safe spaces for those individuals to receive proper medical treatment and housing. As a result, homelessness skyrocketed, and a mass shuttling of individuals through the criminal justice system’s revolving door began.
The criminal justice system serves an important purpose for the safety of our nation. But it also serves, inappropriately, as a void that swallows people in the throes of mental illness and substance use disorder. This void that exists between the healthcare and criminal justice systems was created by social and political movements over the past fifty years. For too many individuals with serious mental illness, substance use disorder, or both, the justice system is the de facto entry point for obtaining treatment and services. There are many causes, not the least of which is the criminalization of mental illness and the lack of alternative approaches and resources to support the diversion of individuals from the courts and into treatment.
Under the current legal framework, we are left with an ineffective, piecemeal approach of how to care for individuals afflicted by mental illness and substance use disorder as they become part of the criminal justice system. The treatment and care they require creates a heavy burden on our legal system—a punitive system built without any intention nor capability to provide extensive health care. Although the solutions discussed in this Note move the needle slightly, they do not holistically provide an effective framework to attack this issue at its roots and break the cycle.