Editorial: It's one thing to change our mindset on mental illness and crime; now we have to find strategies

The link between crime and mental illness is nothing new. Criminal justice experts have been studying it for decades, and a relatively recent trend toward diverting some suspects to special mental health courts aims to address the notion that traditional forms of punishment offer limited to no potential to prevent certain suspects from finding their way back into court or prison.

But effective long-term approaches remain elusive.

This week, Anne Burke, chief justice of the Illinois Supreme Court, and other criminal justice experts spoke to reporters in Springfield about ongoing efforts to find more effective ways to deal with people whose mental health issues bring them in contact with the court system. The meeting was a followup to a "call to action" Burke issued in October 2020 as part of a nationwide initiative seeking better alternatives than traditional punishments for individuals whose behaviors are not the result of malicious self-interest but of unmanaged mental illness.

The initiative, growing out of a National Centers for State Courts project, features a host of high-sounding goals and phrases that essentially boil down to Burke's assertion that the courts' approach to mental illness must be one of "compassion and hope."

It must, of course. But the real objective of the moment is to move beyond hope and toward effective action. That likely will prove a considerably more imposing challenge than merely redirecting the mindset of the court system.

In an October 2020 report of its own, the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority acknowledges the value of the burgeoning mental health court process, but takes pains to note that, despite some "positive results," these courts have yet to conclusively demonstrate their effectiveness at moving suspects with mental health issues into appropriate treatment or assuring that they don't repeat the behaviors that brought them into contact with the court system in the first place.

Achieving that mission is the next step for the NCSC project and Illinois' participation in it. The Illinois Mental Health Task Force will begin in January an intensive effort aimed at identifying concrete measures the courts can take to better distinguish between purely criminal behaviors and actions arising out of mental illness.

An Associated Press story this week on criminal justice officials' discussion of these issues includes a poignant quote from Patti Tobias, principal court management consultant for the NCSC.

"Mental illness is not a crime. It's a brain disorder," Tobias said. "Serious mental Illness impacts all of our court dockets. Access to care is often scarce or non-existent ..."

This, it must be said, after decades of research and study.

It is certainly worthwhile to join in calls for greater compassion and judgment in addressing crime-related problems of the mentally ill. But we must also recognize that the critical work, the job of finding real and workable solutions, is just getting started.