Mental Health Night Court
"There's a lot we don't know about postpartum psychosis, but that hasn't stopped various people from speaking out anyway."
The following items, all of a legal nature, came across my desk in recent weeks:
Assisted Suicide
You be the judge:
In April last year, James Lawson, of West Sussex, UK, helped his 22-year-old daughter Sarah take a drug overdose, which failed. He then put a bag over her head and smothered her with a pillow. Sarah had a long history of self-harm and trying to commit suicide. The day before, she had been ejected from a psychiatric unit for supplying cannabis. James himself suffered from depression and admitted to the court his judgement was impaired. He was originally charged with murder, but later pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility. The judge sentenced James to a two-year prison term, suspended for two years, with two years probation, saying: "Your depressive illness, the stress of Sarah's own illness, her wish to take her life combined with the belief that you were helping to get her to peace makes this case out of the norm for manslaughter." The judge also said: "I accept that you at all times believed you were acting in Sarah's best interests and out of love for her."
James' estranged wife stood by her husband, as did his son, while the police detective who investigated the case praised the judge's ruling, saying that "so many people can relate to Jim and his family and know that he has suffered enough."
Criminal Nonjustice
At a recent Connecticut NAMI Conference, NY Times journalist Fox Butterfield had this story to tell:
A small town Louisiana youth named Matthew who heard voices in his head and twice tried to drown himself borrowed two bikes to ride. He was charged with stealing the bikes and resisting arrest. Without the benefit of a trial or a lawyer, the judge ordered Matthew sent to juvenile prison for five years. He based his decision on an unsigned note saying if Matthew went to a hospital for treatment, he would not be there long enough.
Fox Butterfield also had this to add:
A juvenile court judge, who boasted he was the most conservative person in Texas, said only by being arrested can a kid in Texas get treated.
On Riker’s Island in New York City, where those charged with crimes await trial, an inmate is kept on average 42 days. For the mentally ill, it is 215 days.
It costs $515 per day to keep a person in jail. It costs $30 a day to put a mentally ill person in proper housing and $40 for treatment.
Latest Articles