Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disAbility Services

Read the full report at WTAJ.com

Mental health cases are causing concerns for the Pennsylvania court system.

The number of defendants coming into the courts with preexisting mental health concerns continues to grow at a time when resources available to reform and rehabilitate those offenders continues to shrink. The Pennsylvania Court’s Office of Behavioral Health is taking steps to identify ways it can better deal with defendants who have special needs.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys sat down at the same table to discuss how to better handle these cases as part of the Court’s Behavioral Health Regional Summit in Bedford.

“We get much better results when we get a chance to talk to other similarly situated counties from all of those professionals to see how they’re handling the challenges that we have in the justice system,” said Bedford County Court of Common Pleas Judge Brandi Hershey.

Around 65% of defendants in the Pennsylvania court system has a mental health challenge according to the Office of Behavioral Health. Blair County’s Chief Public Defender, Julia Burke, said part of the problem is drug use, both as the crime, and as a cause for increased mental health concerns.

Read the full report at WTAJ.com