'MENTAL health' courts will begin processing criminal cases in Northern Ireland from next year, The Irish News has revealed. Those who come before the court will be able to have sentencing deferred to allow them to engage in treatment for their mental health.
The latest 'problem solving' court is expected to be based in Belfast with a specialised judge. Probation Board (PBNI) psychologists will be involved in the assessment of individuals and overseeing their treatment programme.
With 42 per cent of criminals dealt with by PBNI identified as suffering mental health problems, it has the potential to lift huge numbers of offenders out of costly criminal courts and expensive jail terms.
Prison Service figures put the cost per prisoner place at £55,304 - a 3.5 per cent year-on-year increase.
A 2017 study in the US found "significantly fewer defendants who completed MHC (Mental Health Courts) were rearrested at all windows of time after release. Completing MHC also predicted living more days free without rearrest".
Researchers found "participation in MHC was able to reduce recidivism regardless of varying severity of criminal history (and) the impact of MHC was so great that length of participation reduced severity of offense type after three years even for those who ultimately did not complete the requirements".
A `scoping' exercise is currently underway by the Department of Justice and the final structure of the court, which will be revealed in coming weeks, will also have the endorsement of the Department of Health.
"It will be a significant change," PBNI acting director of rehabilitation Geraldine O'Hare told The Irish News.
"But it is a change that really needs to be made if we are to fully commit to problem solving our way through justice. It's about looking at the evidence of what we know is working and changing today how justice is delivered."
Northern Ireland has the highest rate of mental health problems in the UK, with one in four people presenting with issues. An audit office report earlier this year found that the north's justice system is increasingly being used as a service of last resort for people with mental health issues.
It revealed that all associated organisations are under significant pressures due to increasing mental health needs, with the PSNI alone dealing with more than 20,000 reports a year of individuals experiencing mental health crises but where a crime has not necessarily been committed.
Almost two-thirds of people arrested are identified, or had previously been identified, as having a mental health issue, with more than a third entering prison custody in contact with community mental health services at the time of their committal.
The report found that the justice system is coming into contact with increasing numbers of people who have not had access to the health and social care services they need. And it noted the current pattern of short-term custodial sentences are considered to be ineffective in treating and rehabilitating prisoners with mental health issues.
The introduction of the new court is the latest initiative to come from the 2016 NI Assembly Justice Committee's `Report on Justice in the 21st Century: Innovative approaches for the criminal justice system'.
It recommended a two-pronged approach, with problem-solving courts focused both on drugs and alcohol addiction and on mental health issues. Dr O'Hare travelled to the US to learn from its more than 400 mental health courts.
Her research found justice involvement was able to "help connect people to appropriate treatment, which can improve the symptoms of mental illness and reduce problematic behaviour and related recidivism".
Judicial supervision, including the use of "gradual incentives and sanctions" to keep people in treatment, has been shown to improve public safety.
by Bimpe Archer
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