The Waiting Room Effect: Why Diverting People With Mental Illness From Jails Requires Broad Structural and Systemic Change

What is it about?

People with mental illness are disproportionately jailed as a result of social and structural vulnerabilities and a tendency to use the criminal legal system in place of an adequate mental health system. Various programs have developed to help reverse this trend, including specialized courts. These courts may in some cases rely on jails as a "waiting room" for community services. I call this the "waiting room effect" and propose potential policy approaches to addressing it.

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