Giada Amendolara '25
Mayor Eric Adams recently announced new policy changes involving mental health involuntary removals. According to NPR, his new policy, “directs police officers and street outreach workers to transport someone to the hospital for a psychiatric evaluation if they appear to be unable to meet their own basic needs.”
This is a change from the current policy, which states that the homeless person will be taken in only if he or she “is in a degree of danger to self or others (MHY § 9.41).” The new policy will allow police officers and outreach workers to take someone to the hospital for a psychiatric evaluation if they seem to be unable to meet their own basic needs, and will be taken to a hospital for evaluation even if they refuse to go on their own.
According to Forbes Magazine, Mayor Adams stated that the old policy can be expanded, “based on legal precedents, to include people with untreated physical injury, unawareness or delusional misapprehension of surroundings or unawareness or delusional misapprehension of physical condition or health.” In a press conference Adams said the city has a “moral obligation” to address the homelessness and mental illness. He further stated that “it’s a common misunderstanding that we cannot provide involuntary assistance unless the person is violent, suicidal or presenting a risk of imminent harm,” and added that the “myth must be put to rest.”
The new policy is controversial because mental health professionals see the policy as taking away a person's basic human rights and believe housing is the answer to homelessness. Jacquelyn Simone, policy director for the Coalition for the Homeless, stated that "Mayor Adams continues to get it wrong when it comes to his reliance on ineffective surveillance, policing, and involuntary transport and treatment of people with mental illness.”
Defenders of the policy in the mayor's office state that new protocols and training will give the severely mentally ill the support they need.
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