Yesterday’s N&R front page story gives us a glimpse into Guilford County’s proposed mental health court by taking a look at Orange County’s court, which has been in place since 2000 and is presided over by Judge Joseph Buckner.
I’m not the brightest guy in the world, so it didn’t dawn on me that the mental health system will be heavily involved in the court, as it is in Orange County:
A criminal defendant is recommended for the special court by an attorney, a health care provider, the judge or a court worker…..
To qualify, the defendant must have a diagnosed mental health problem and a likelihood of success in the program.
Upon diversion into mental health court, the accused is asked to meet a series of demands, typically meeting with a case manager and not getting into additional trouble with the law. The defendant also must come to court monthly to check in with Buckner, the chief district judge of Orange and Chatham counties and also the judge who presides over the Hillsborough court.
If the demands are met, the criminal case will be dropped or the sentence will be reduced, depending on the situation.
The decisions are not made solely by Buckner. Before each monthly session, case workers, court officials and attorneys for the accused and the state meet with the judge. They discuss how each of the clients, as the defendants are called, is progressing.
The article said that local mental health advocates support the initiative as a means of getting people help through the court system that they aren’t ordinarily getting. Fair enough, and I like to think that the court’s major proponent, Guilford County Commissioner Skip Alston, has thoroughly thought about the impact of the court on an already fragile mental health system instead of pushing it just so he can say he relieved overcrowding in the county jail, thus reducing the need for a new jail. Othwerwise, there’s a strong possibility the county would just be shifting the burden from one strained system to another.
