Offers community-based treatment in lieu of incarceration to defendants with serious mental health diagnoses.
Mental Health and Criminal Justice in Brooklyn: In Conversation with Judge Matthew J. D’Emic
May 31, 2023
The Brooklyn Mental Health Court works with defendants who have serious and persistent mental illnesses, linking them to long-term treatment as an alternative to incarceration. The court aims to strengthen the justice system’s ability to identify, assess, and monitor individual participants; to create linkages between the justice and mental health systems; and to improve public safety by ensuring that participants receive high-quality community-based services. The court has been documented to reduce recidivism and improve mental health outcomes.
Brooklyn Felony Diversion
The Brooklyn Felony Alternatives-to-Incarceration Court offers community-based interventions and rigorous judicial monitoring, decreasing the use of jail and prison sentences and leading to reduced criminal dispositions. The goal of the court is to improve public safety by increasing the use of community-based social services and supervision as a response to felony cases. Participants complete mandated, individualized services that are designed help them avoid future contact with the justice system, reduce unnecessary incarceration, minimize the collateral consequences of criminal justice involvement, and promote swift case resolutions.
NYC Finds a Way to Balance Mental Illness and Criminal Justice
A look into a participant's journey with a specialty mental health court is bolstered by Center data from the Brooklyn Mental Health Court, showing that participants are 46% less likely to be arrested than their peers in criminal court and 29% less likely to be convicted. Despite limited resources, Judge Matthew D’Emic has presided over the borough’s mental health court for 21 years and stretches resources to accommodate 300 participants at a time.
Mental Health and Criminal Justice in Brooklyn: In Conversation with Judge Matthew J. D’Emic
For over 20 years, the Brooklyn Mental Health Court has been working to keep people with severe mental illnesses out of jail and in treatment. Hear from Judge Matthew J. D'Emic, who has presided over the court since its inception, on the importance of this work.
