Essay
My bill's purpose is to allow access to certain mental health services for those on probation or parole. Bill HF2031 should be a law because it gives people on parole or probation a chance of real rehabilitation, especially to those who want help/support. Being supervised by officers isn't enough help to the 830,000 adults on probation with mental illness.
One piece of evidence that I believe strongly fits my narrative is an article from Pew Research organization, “Adults With Mental Illness Are Overrepresented in Probation Population". It says that people with a mental illness are more likely to be on probation than those without. 3.5% adults with mental illness on probation annually compared to 1.7% Adults without mental illness. Those with a mental illness reported being arrested more often, going to prison more often, and being on probation more times than those without a mental illness. If people with a mental illness are more likely to be on probation wouldn't you think it would be a good idea to give them resources that would dwindle the rate of their arrests?
If you still don't agree with me, another piece of evidence from the same article says that many probation agencies lack the tools to support officers in supervising people with mental illness. According to Pew, 42% of probation agencies do not require any mental health training for officers. And when they do specialized mental health approaches, nearly all require fewer than three days of mental health training. So if you don't want those on probation or parole, which majority have mental health illnesses to get access to those mental health services, the next best thing wouldn't be the officers who watch over them because they aren't much help at all. They don't have the necessary training to attempt to rehabilitate those with mental illness on probation or parole. If you expect someone with a mental illness to go in and not get proper support and come out with signs of change and successfully completing their terms, you are mistaken.
Studies show that individuals with a mental illness on probation are more likely to be sent back to prison for a new arrest or probation violation. The rate of rearrest for probationers with mental illness was nearly double that of the comparison group (54% vs. 30%). They get rearrested because they aren't actually being rehabilitated which is the whole purpose of probation and group homes do a pretty good job with rehabilitation but they have to be put there by a judge.
This bill will actually help those who are re-committing crimes by providing the support to be healthy and get back into society in a positive way. It can be hard to come out of prison and deal with all the struggles of the environment that got them in trouble in the first place. These services will help people recognize this and support them with healthy choices and behaviors. Not only will the formerly incarcerated people benefit from this, so will the community because they will experience more safety and less crime. Finally, there is a stigma toward mental illness in general and people are not likely to seek help on their own. This creates a cycle of repeated behaviors and more crime. This bill would reduce that stigma and give access to many more people to mental health services, breaking the cycle.