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AGENCY TESTIMONY
Mental health issues and the Pathways Public Safety Division
5:15:37
ยท
96 sec
Alvin Bragg addresses the challenges of mental health in the criminal justice system and highlights the success of the Pathways Public Safety Division in addressing these issues.
- Bragg emphasizes the broken mental health system and its impact on the criminal justice system
- The Pathways Public Safety Division uses problem-solving courts with intensive oversight and tailored programming
- Specially trained Pathways deputies are placed in trial bureaus and the special victims division
- Problem-solving courts include Manhattan Mental Health Court, judicial diversion, and felony ATI (Alternative to Incarceration)
- Participants in these programs receive 18-24 months of tailored programming with court monitoring
- Upon graduation, every participant has stable housing and a source of income
- Data shows that the Pathways division is having a significant impact on public safety
Alvin Bragg
5:15:37
I focused a lot on our broken mental health system.
5:15:41
And if you go to Manhattan criminal court any day of the week, you can see how broken our system is.
5:15:48
The lack of treatment, housing, and supportive services leads to greater contact with the criminal justice system, and that sadly is on full display.
5:15:58
I am proud to continue noting the success of our Pathways Public Safety Division.
5:16:03
We use problem solving courts with their intensive oversight, comprehensive case management, and individually tailored programming because this approach has a strong track record of making us safer by addressing underlying needs and changing problematic behavior long term.
5:16:18
We have specially trained Pathways deputies in each of our trial bureaus and our special victims division in their screening cases and determining who should be referred to these problem solving courts, which include Manhattan Mental Health Court, judicial diversion, and our felony ATI.
5:16:34
These individuals are then directed to a program that is tailored to their needs.
5:16:39
In these courts, a defendant pleads guilty at the outset and accepts a court supervised mandate typically of eighteen to twenty four months of tailored programming with court monitoring.
5:16:48
And one very important factor that distinguishes the work of these courts from perhaps less more traditional, less intensive diversion programs is that every participant, when they graduate, has stable housing and a source of income, either a job or disability benefits.
5:17:05
And we are finding through the data we track that this work of the Pathways division is really having a significant impact on public safety.