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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Daniele Gerard, Senior Attorney at Children's Rights
6:26:28
·
120 sec
Daniele Gerard, representing Children's Rights and the New York City Jails Action Coalition, urges the City Council to cut the Department of Correction budget and redistribute funding to programs that help youth and families. She emphasizes the need for community mental health services instead of criminalizing mental illness.
- Highlights the disproportionate impact of mental health issues on incarcerated youth, especially those who are Black, Brown, LGBTQ, or living with disabilities.
- Argues that child welfare and juvenile legal systems are often traumatic for youth, leading to poor mental health outcomes.
- Calls for reallocation of the proposed Rikers budget to support community health and well-being initiatives for all children and youth.
Daniele Gerard
6:26:28
In state systems here in the city on behalf of young adults on Rikers.
6:26:33
We're a member of the New York City Jails Action Coalition.
6:26:36
Mental illness is not a crime, and yet that's the way this administration treats people.
6:26:41
We urge the council to cut the Department of Correction budget and redistribute funding to programs that actually work to help youth and families instead of allocating 2,870,000,000.00 to the Department of Correction.
6:26:53
As the mayor has proposed, the council should negotiate a fair, just, and reasonable budget that serves all New Yorkers, including our children and youth incarcerated or not.
6:27:03
The lack of investment in community mental health services results in police and agents of other punitive systems responding to children and youth experiencing psychiatric distress rather than trained behavioral health personnel.
6:27:17
As a result, youth with mental health conditions are more likely to be arrested and incarcerated than those without mental health conditions.
6:27:24
Nationwide, data show that seventy percent of incarcerated young people present with a diagnosed mental health condition compared to eighteen to twenty two percent of all children.
6:27:34
Once involved in the child welfare or juvenile legal systems, youth who are black or brown, LGBTQ, and or living with a disability disproportionately face the most profound mental health challenges.
6:27:46
Young people themselves describe the child welfare and juvenile legal systems as traumatic and youth who experience these systems often have poor mental health outcomes.
6:27:56
The criminalization of mental health is a direct result of the lack of investment in community mental health services, we urge the council to stand firm in supporting our communities, especially when it comes to the health and well-being of all our children and youth incarcerated or not.
6:28:12
We refer you to our March 24 written testimony submitted at your preliminary budget hearing for ways to reallocate the mayor's proposed budget for Rikers to work toward achieving this goal.
6:28:23
Thank you for the opportunity to testify, and thank you for running such a smooth hearing.