Mentally ill face forced hospitalizations

Following a string of subway attacks involving homeless people, New York City will remove more mentally ill people from the streets and the subway system, Mayor Eric Adams said, even if it means involuntarily hospitalizing some people who refuse care.

"These New Yorkers and hundreds of others like them are in urgent need of treatment, yet often refuse it when offered," Adams said in an address at City Hall last week, noting the pervasive problem of mental illness has long been out in the open. The effort clarifies a "gray area where policy, law and accountability have not been clear", he said.

Under the directive, outreach workers, city hospitals and first responders, including police, can now intervene when someone is thought to be mentally ill to a point that it prevents them from "meeting their basic human needs, causing them to be a danger to themselves".

'Moral obligation'

The effort would require involuntarily hospitalizing people who refuse treatment, even if they posed no risk of harm to others, arguing the city has a "moral obligation" to help them, Adams said.

Existing state laws generally limit the ability of authorities to force someone into treatment unless their behavior poses a threat of "serious harm" to themselves or others.

But Adams said it was a "myth "that the law required a person to be behaving in an "outrageously dangerous" or suicidal way before a police officer or medical worker could act.

The Legal Aid Society, along with several community-based defender services, said the mayor was correct in noting "decades of dysfunction "in mental healthcare. They argued state lawmakers "must no longer 'punt'" to address the crisis and approve legislation that would offer treatment, not jail, for people with mental health issues.

At the same time, the mayor's announcement faced immediate criticism from some civil rights groups and advocates for the homeless.

"The mayor is playing fast and loose with the legal rights of New Yorkers and is not dedicating the resources necessary to address the mental health crises that affect our communities," Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement.

In June, the City Council approved a $101 billion fiscal year budget that included $2.4 billion for homeless services.

The Coalition for the Homeless also condemned the mayor's plan, saying the city should focus on expanding access to voluntary psychiatric treatment.

"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," Jacquelyn Simone, the coalition's executive director, said in a statement.

Studies show that the large majority of homeless in New York City are people living with mental illness or other severe health problems, the Coalition for the Homeless said.

Felony crimes have surged on the subway system by 40 percent this year with 1,917 incidents, up from 1,367 during the same period last year, according to New York Police Department statistics released on Sunday.