Mayor Announces Mental Health Initiative

Yesterday, Mayor Bloomberg held a press conference to announce the release of a set of recommendations from a combined City/State review panel that was created in the wake of recent police shootings of people with mental illness and cases such as that of accused murderer David Turloff. The recommendations cover a broad range of topics, including the expansion of mental health courts across the state, and the introduction of mental health screening in Criminal Court for individuals sentenced to community-based sanctions, which the city plans to test in the Bronx:

"NYC should expand post-arraignment mental health screening in the Bronx Criminal Court to identify appropriate individuals, sentenced to brief community-based programs, for mental health assessments, intensive engagement, and voluntary case management as an alternative to the original court mandate. This pilot would help evaluate whether brief mandatory engagement efforts promote longer-term participation in mental health services."

Here is a PDF of the report.

And here is an article in the NY Sun.