Brooklyn’s Mental Health Court celebrates one thousand graduates diverted from prison system
Before the Brooklyn Mental Health Court was created in 2002, people accused of crimes who lived with mental health issues had two options — pleading guilty by reason of insanity or going to trial where, much more often than not, they would receive a prison term.
“The Mental Health Court represented a third way,” said Justice Matthew D’Emic, who has presided over the court since its inception. “An individual could come to the court, agree to go into treatment and avoid jail as a recognition that mental illness played some part in the criminal behavior.”
On Wednesday, all of the actors who participate in the Mental Health Court, from judges and attorneys, to the defendants, social workers, court employees and family members, gathered to celebrate the graduation of the thousandth person from the court’s programs.