Month: October 2022

INDIANA BEHAVIORAL HEALTH COMMISSION – FINAL REPORT

Like many other states, Indiana’s Behavioral Health System infrastructure has been underfunded for years and is in need of systemic reforms to improve and enhance behavioral health care throughout the state. Now more than ever, clear pathways to those reforms exist, and that work has already begun in Indiana. These recommendations build upon that work and, if adopted, will result in a higher quality, more accessible and integrated system.

In order to address and improve the overall health and well-being of all Hoosiers, the Commission recommends (1) strategies to improve Hoosiers’ mental health literacy; (2) increase capacity of psychiatric consultation programs for primary care providers; and (3) increase enforcement of mental health parity requirements.

See report here:

www.in.gov/fssa/dmha/files/INBHC-Report.pdf

Rethinking Electronic Monitoring: A Harm Reduction Guide | American Civil Liberties Union

Electronic monitoring was supposed to replace cash bail. If this is a failure, what’s happening to the people that are supposed to be released and monitored? Maybe placing bail on people that are a threat to society or are going to commit more crime is a good thing. Especially seeing that other methods of controlling people as they are out awaiting trial is not working. 

Rethinking Electronic Monitoring: A Harm Reduction Guide, calls on jurisdictions to replace electronic monitoring with less restrictive and more effective measures, such as court reminders and transportation assistance. The report also outlines ways jurisdictions can mitigate the harms of monitoring in accordance with due process and fairness principles.
— Read on www.aclu.org/report/rethinking-electronic-monitoring-harm-reduction-guide

Public Report — Chicago Use of Force Community Working Group

Public Report on the Use of Force Community Working Group—Chicago

The Use of Force Community Working Group1 has achieved transformative changes to the Chicago Police Department’s (CPD) Use of Force policies. These changes are the result of the Community Working Group’s leadership and advocacy and have the potential to reduce CPD violence and make the people of Chicago safer. This Report, issued by the community members who served on the Working Group, highlights those changes and describes the greatest shortcomings in CPD’s force policies still in need of change. It is critical that Chicagoans are informed both about our progress and about the areas where it remains crucial for people to speak out and advocate for change. We recommend that the Community Commission on Public Safety and Accountability immediately take up these recommendations for a better and safer Chicago. One of the greatest lessons we learned in this process is that change is not self-executing: it happens only when the people of Chicago make it happen.

See the report here:

https://www.law.uchicago.edu/sites/default/files/2022-09/2022.09.22_UOF_WG_Report_upload.pdf