Defender Agencies’ Policies and Procedures for Representing Clients with Mental Health Disorders

• In Event: Substance Abuse: Race/Ethnicity, Mental Health, and Legal Issues

Abstract

The ability of public defenders to effectively advocate for defendants with mental illness is essential to reducing the overrepresentation of individuals with mental health disorders in the justice system. However, the provision of public defense services for clients with mental health disorders is fraught with unique practical challenges and ethical/legal dilemmas. As examples, with little to no specialized training, defenders are called on to determine whether their client poses a danger to himself or others, which clients have a mental health need and could benefit from treatment, the extent to which a client with mental health disorders is able to make decisions in his own best interests, and how to balance the client’s autonomy with treatment needs.
Public defense agencies respond to these challenges by developing formal and informal policies and practices to guide the provision of defense services for people with mental health disorders. We conducted a review of those policies and procedures at defense agencies in Monroe County, NY and Bronx County, NY using semi-structured interviews with leadership and staff as well as a review of agency documents. This presentation will discuss the results of that review and the lessons learned which can be applied nationally.

Authors

• Ayesha Delany-Brumsey, Vera Institute of Justice

• Olivia Sideman, Vera Institute of Justice

• Jim Parsons, Vera Institute of Justice