APA applauded Senators Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) and Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) last month for introducing the Mental Health Early Intervention, Treatment, and Prevention Act of 2000.

"Your new bill will advance the cause of ending stigma against persons with mental illness and provide important funding for key public policy initiatives that offer real promise to plug current gaps in treatment for vulnerable populations including children, adolescents, and Native Americans, among others," said Jay Cutler, director of APA’s Division of Government Relations in a May 24 letter to the senators.

To prevent tragedies that can result from untreated mental illness, such as crime and suicide, the bill would fund the creation of community emergency mental health centers. Funding also would be provided to train teachers, emergency room personnel, primary care professionals, and law enforcement officers to identify and respond effectively to people with mental illness, according to Domenici and Kennedy at a press briefing on Capitol Hill last month.

Referring to the Surgeon General’s Report on Mental Health released last December, Kennedy noted that it "makes two basic points: mental illness is a national crisis, and our treatment of the mentally ill is a national disgrace."

Domenici mentioned a recent analysis by the New York Times on "rampage killers" in which reporters found that 47 of the 100 killers in the cases they reviewed had a history of mental health problems and had been seen by a mental health professional.

"In almost all of the 47 cases, parents were worried about the relative’s behavior, often due to not taking the prescribed medications, and the neighbors knew something was wrong. Yet, all too often, they would call the police, and there would be a cycle of detention and release," said Domenici.

The bill also includes these provisions:

• Grants for integrating treatment of mental illness and substance abuse.

• Grants for outreach screening to identify individuals with co-occurring disorders.

• Funds for the National Institute of Mental Health to study factors contributing to noncompliance with outpatient treatment.

• The establishment of an expert panel that will include psychiatrists to study the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness and the reasons some mentally ill individuals end up in the criminal justice system.

The bill also will close gaps in the treatment of the mentally ill in the criminal justice system by funding 125 demonstration mental health courts that will consider inpatient or outpatient treatment as an alternative sentence, according to Domenici.

This expands the legislative proposal introduced last year by Rep. Ted Strickland (R-Calif.) and Sen. Mike DeWine (R-Ohio) to establish 25 mental health courts. That bill was referred to the Committee on Judiciary and has not moved since last November.

Because mental health services to inmates are underfunded, the bill would fund a new pilot program so that individuals in jails or state prisons can be screened, evaluated, and treated for mental illness.

Another demonstration initiative proposed in the bill would create 125 diversion programs so those inmates who have committed misdemeanor crimes can receive community-based mental health services, noted Domenici.

Sen. Paul Wellstone (D-Minn.) applauded the bill and noted its inclusion of his suicide prevention proposal that would provide $75 million annually for five years to fund initiatives to combat suicides among adults and children. About 30,000 Americans, 2,000 of whom are children and adolescents, commit suicide each year, according to Wellstone.