Judge Milton Mack

Help people stay well so they don't get in trouble with the law.

That's true.

Yeah.

But we're having one of our bills to create a diversion process for those who are charged with liftometers.

So currently in Michigan and most states, when you're charged with a crime, you have a mental illness, they send you to the forensic center for an evaluation.

And they have to discern if you're competent to stand trial or not.

If you're not competent to stand trial, they have to make you competent to stand trial so they can convict you.

Now, for misdemeanors, sending those individuals to the forensic center is an enormous waste of time, talent, money, resources, because at the end of the day, all you're going to get is a conviction for a misdemeanor.

for an individual who's going to re-offend.

So to be much smarter, so instead of sending this person to the forensic center, you send them into assisted outpatient treatment and drop the criminal charges.

Now, when we put together that legislation, we have the support of the Michigan Prosecutors Association, as well as the Defense Bar.

We had the support of the disability rights people.

So they all saw this is a better option because if we can take someone who's

mentally ill, committing misdemeanors, and get them well, then we're not going to have to deal with them again in the criminal justice system.

So let's see if we go upstream and take care of people before they get in trouble with the criminal justice system, then you're just going to significantly reduce the impact at that level.

It's been very enlightening.

It's been enlightening for stakeholders to find out how they are victims of a bad system.

So, for example, hospital emergency rooms are crying for the fact that their emergency rooms are crowded with people with mental illness.

And I point out, well, you know, if we take care of them properly, they won't be coming to your emergency rooms or law enforcement.

You know, one third of all the people in this country with a serious mental illness, their pathway to care was through law enforcement, which is kind of staggering.