From Press Release
A bill to help address the treatment of mentally ill offenders by the criminal justice system cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee today, Chairman Chuck Grassley said. The bill was sponsored by Senator Al Franken and was cosponsored by Grassley along with Senators John Cornyn, Patrick Leahy, Richard Durbin, Sheldon Whitehouse, Amy Klobuchar, Chris Coons, Lindsey Graham, Richard Blumenthal, Orrin Hatch and Dianne Feinstein.
“Mentally ill offenders make up a large part of the people in the criminal justice system. This bill takes into account the needs of this community in an effort to reduce the likelihood that they will reoffend,” Grassley said.
The Comprehensive Justice and Mental Health Act:
• reauthorizes the Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Act;
• supports mental health courts and veterans treatment courts;
• enhances identification of offenders with mental illness so as to provide better health services;
• enhances efforts to deal with mentally ill offenders who are incarcerated; and
• includes accountability measures to ensure that resources are used appropriately.
The bill must now be considered by the full Senate.
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