The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES, Calif. (AP) - Millions of dollars in Proposition 63 money earmarked for helping the mentally ill should be used for programs that reduce juvenile crime, police chiefs and an advocacy group said Wednesday.
A “significant” amount of the revenue raised by Proposition 63 should be geared to programs that include not only therapy and prescription drugs but social services such as housing, family counseling, substance abuse treatment and job counseling, said Barrie Becker, state director of the nonprofit anti-crime group Fight Crime: Invest in Kids California.
“When we address those needs there are proven reductions in juvenile crime,” she said. “The idea behind this is let’s take what works and improve it.”
“I think people have a sophisticated understanding of mental health treatment and it’s not always the model of a therapist and a patient in a room,” she said.
The suggestion was endorsed by the California Police Chiefs Association during a conference of the International Association of Chiefs of Police.
Fight Crime’s white paper cited various studies that have concluded 80 percent of youthful offenders have mental disorders, ranging from learning problems to schizophrenia.
It also cited a state Board of Corrections report to the Legislature in March that found benefits from a now-defunct, state-funded grant program to fight juvenile crime that included both mental health and social programs.
The board found that for young males, at least, those taking part in the grant-funded county-run programs had 19 percent fewer arrests than others in a control group. Another board study of state-funded anti-crime programs concluded that youthful offenders who participated in such programs were a third less likely to be re-arrested.
Proposition 63, passed by voters this month, created a 1 percent income tax surcharge on Californians who have taxable income of more than $1 million a year to raise money for expanding county mental health services. It would raise an estimated $275 million this fiscal year and $750 million in 2005-06.
Counties would have to submit their plans for providing mental health services to the state for approval.