San Francisco (cron) — Governor Gavin Newsom’s new law has been heavily criticized by advocacy groups who say incarcerating mentally ill and homeless Californians only causes more harm.
Newsom signed CARE Courts SB 1338 into law at a ceremony held in San Jose on Wednesday.
The Auckland-based Anti-Police Terrorism Project has voiced strong opposition to the bill. The APTP argued that court-ordered hospitalization and treatment were ineffective and violated the human rights of individuals seeking mental health treatment voluntarily.
“This measure would force Californians with mental disorders to undergo ineffective, involuntary and dangerous court-mandated treatment,” the APTP said in a statement issued Thursday.
Senator Susan Thalamantes Eggman (D-Stockton) was a co-author of the bill. “Our behavioral health system is broken, and too many people with severe mental illness are overlooked,” Eggman said. provides an important new entry into behavioral health systems for the most difficult-to-reach populations.”
The law will be implemented statewide, starting with a phased approach.First county to implement care coat San Francisco, San Diego, Glenn, Orange, Riverside, Stanislaus, Tuolumne.
A new law gives courts the power to order people at risk to be unwittingly institutionalized and forced to follow treatment plans. The Governor’s Office said the legislation would create a paradigm shift in the mental health system, “empowering individuals suffering from untreated schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders to provide them with the care and services they need to become well.” I will.”
“Newsom’s CARE Courts bill will not stop the homeless, nor will it stop our mental health crisis. The only real solution is access to permanent housing, adequate health care and community support,” said the deputy head of the Anti-Police Terrorism Project. Author James Birch said:
The APTP coalition says Newsom’s new law “targets, harasses, and cages blacks and browns in disproportionate proportions in California.”
“It is clear that the CARE Court will continue this nation’s legacy of unjustly policing and imprisoning black people. “California has dropped the ball time and time again when it comes to providing genuine assistance to those who are not detained,” Birch said. “
According to the governor’s office, the CARE court was created based on evidence that untreated mental patients can be stabilized in “care settings” with treatment and support. The plan focuses on people on the schizophrenia spectrum and other psychotic disorders, who may also have substance use issues.
The CARE process provides a person with less restrictive options before being admitted to a state hospital or ordered to an involuntary LantermanPetris short-term mental health caregivership if deemed necessary by a court of law.
Institutionalized persons are required to meet certain criteria, such as those who are “unlikely to survive safely in the community without supervision and whose condition has deteriorated significantly”, wrote the CARE Court.
Kat Brooks, Executive Director of Justice Team Network, said: From becoming the law of the land. In signing the CARE Court bill, Newsom signed his legacy as a human rights abuser. ”
CARE stands for Community Assistance, Recovery, and Empowerment Act.
The CARE Court received bipartisan, near-unanimous approval in the state Senate and House of Representatives. The framework is underpinned by the state’s $15.3 billion investment in addressing the homeless problem. This includes his $1.5 billion to Behavior Bridge housing and his $11.6 billion to mental health programs.
