Thursday, April 22, 2004

Mental health issues pack jails (Oregon)
Story in The Oregonian on "...a handful of high-profile murder defendants lurching their way through the state's 'aid and assist' process, a forensic evaluation involving doctors, lawyers and judges. The process is designed to answer pivotal pretrial questions: Does the defendant have the minimum intellectual capacity needed to understand the proceedings against him and, therefore, to stand trial? And if not, can he gain it? Or is he faking mental illness to avoid trial? It's an important but sometimes painfully slow and inexact procedure, designed to protect a defendant's right to due process. However, it is bogging down the court system, creating backups in local jails and straining the Oregon State Hospital, where hundreds undergo testing and treatment every year. "  
  

Mental health issues discussed (Florida)
Story in the Ocala Star Banner - "The Marion County Sheriff's Office has been dealing with an increasing number of mental health cases during the past four years, including involuntary hospitalizations. Calls for service, including requests for citizen assists, such as well-being checks; Baker Act involuntary hospitalizations; suicide threats and missing or endangered persons; have increased every year since 2000, Maj. Tom Wilder told members of the Public Policy Institute of Marion County. The citizens group, which meets at Central Florida Community College, examines a different community issue each year and develops recommendations. Attention this year is focused on the county's mental health services..."