We see it in the headlines nearly every week. There is a hard-to-define space that often links a person's mental health status with a committed crime. How does Michigan handle such cases? What kinds of diversion programs does the State offer to keep mentally ill citizens out of the criminal justice system? What role do mental health courts play in Michigan crime convictions and sentencing? What has been the impact over the last decade? How do other states manage the question of one's mental health when a crime is committed? What are the models for best practice when an accused person's mental health is questioned? During April's forum, we check in with mental health and criminal justice experts to address these questions.
Speakers
- Sheryl Pimlott Kubiak, Professor in the College of Social Science, Department of Social Work, at Michigan State University. Her interests are at the intersections of criminal justice, mental health and substance abuse. She has been a consultant for federal, state and local entities interested in improving service delivery for those with substance abuse and/or mental health disorders. Her priority has been to get individuals with serious mental illness diverted from jail/prison whenever possible. She will talk about mental health screening in jails; mental health courts statewide, and; diversion programs. See the presentation (.pdf)
- Lois DeMott, a long-time advocate for mentally ill who have wound up in the Criminal Justice System, began her work through a personal journey involving her mentally ill 15 year old son’s incarceration in the adult system. Lois co-founded Citizens for Prison Reform in 2011, a statewide family-led organization. She shed light on the need for reforms in an article published by the Detroit Free Press and then an NBC Documentary in 2012 with Ted Koppel on Juveniles in Isolation across the Nation. She worked for the Association for Children’s Mental Health until awarded a May 2014 Soros Justice Fellowship for developing The Family Participation Program (FPP). See the presentation (.pdf)
- Candyce Shields is a clinical psychologist at the Center for Forensic Psychiatry in Ann Arbor, Michigan. While psychological assessment is her key area of concentration, Dr. Shields serves as the center’s assistant director and heads evaluation services, a role she has been in for six years. She previously worked as the director of the Work Therapy Program in Ann Arbor’s VA Medical Center, and prior to that, as a psychologist in the Wyoming State Hospital. Her education includes time at Western Michigan University, Chapel Hill at the University of North Carolina, and then, her doctorate degree from the University of Louisville.