Introduced
by
To authorize courts to allow mentally ill or mentally retarded individuals charged with a crime to be placed in treatment rather than jail under certain circumstances. The court would be required to consider the nature of the crime, the person’s prior criminal background, the nature of the illness, the likelihood that the person would benefit from treatment, etc. The bill would prohibit placing an individual who has a mental illness, emotional disturbance, developmental disability, or mental retardation in jail as an alternative to treatment, unless he or she is being held in protective custody.
Referred to the Committee on Judiciary
