ABLECHILD: Mental Health Courts – America’s $1 Billion Revolving Door of Crime and Corruption

Mental Health Courts: America’s $1 Billion Revolving Door of Crime and Corruption

Reprinted with permission from AbleChild. 

Mental health courts were introduced as a solution to the rising number of people diagnosed with and treated for mental illnesses in the criminal justice system. The promise was that these courts would reduce crime, save tax dollars, and offer humane alternatives to incarceration. In reality, mental health courts have become a revolving door, letting dangerous offenders back into communities, driven by subjective diagnosing and forced medication, while the behavioral health industry profits at public expense.

The label of “mental illness” in these courts is highly subjective and elastic. There is no objective test for any psychiatric diagnosis; definitions shift and criteria expand based on professional opinion and institutional priorities. If committing a crime is taken as proof of an unhealthy state of mind, then where is the line drawn? Couldn’t one argue all criminals are mentally ill? This logic blurs the distinction between criminality and mental illness, effectively medicalizing crime itself and undermining the justice system.

This subjectivity of the diagnosis gives psychiatry the power to label defendants, decide who is diverted, and who receives privacy protections and alternative sentencing. The result is a parallel justice system where due process is replaced by bureaucratic intervention, and legal responsibility is traded for a medical label that can be manipulated to serve institutional interests.  From its inception, psychiatry has been an experiment imposed on humanity—repeatedly carried out without true consent.   Nothing is new under the sun, no matter how one dresses it up.   If something has to be explained as “evidence-based” or “science-based,” it usually isn’t. Somehow society has allowed this clearly anti-human industry that believes man is made up of chemicals that can be tweaked, to become “experts” in our schools, churches, and courts.

Despite the rhetoric, mental health courts have failed to reduce recidivism in any meaningful way. The data is clear: more than 50% of mental health court participants commit new crimes after leaving the program. One major study found that nearly 54% of all mental health court defendants were rearrested after leaving the program, with an average time to rearrest of just 15 months. Even among those who completed the court program, nearly 40% were rearrested, while those who did not complete the course the rate soared to nearly 75%. These data expose the reality: mental health courts are not a path to rehabilitation—they are a revolving door that fails to protect the public.

A central component of these programs is the forced use of mind-altering psychiatric drugs as a condition of release. These medications carry serious adverse behavioral side effects, including agitation, aggression, and increased risk of violent behavior. Instead of addressing root causes or perhaps even exploring an offenders basic reading level and/or a level of willingness to reform themselves, the system relies on a one-size-fits-all approach dictated by industry standards and court mandates, trading one danger for another.

Offenders in mental health courts are often granted greater privacy protections than other criminal offenders, shielding court records and treatment details from public scrutiny. This lack of transparency allows mistakes and abuse to go unchecked and creates a two-tiered system where justice depends on a label, not the law. Participation is frequently coerced: defendants are pressured to plead guilty and accept mental health treatment under threat of harsher prosecution, stripping them of true choice and due process.

Who benefits from this system? The behavioral health industry. Billions in taxpayer dollars are funneled to providers who have every incentive to keep the system running, regardless of outcomes. The public foots the bill, while communities see little improvement in safety or justice.

What is the price tag of the dual mental health court system? As of 2023, there are more than 300 mental health courts operating in nearly every state in the U.S., with some estimates placing the number at over 650 when including both adult and juvenile courts. According to the National Institute of Justice and other sources, the total annual cost of mental health courts and their associated treatment programs exceeds $1 billion nationwide. This staggering sum covers court operations, mandated treatment, monitoring, and administrative overhead—money that flows straight into the pockets of the behavioral health industry.

The mental health court program has not delivered on its promises. With over half of participants reoffending and a system built on subjective diagnosis, forced medication, and lack of accountability, these courts are not a solution—they are a dangerous experiment. The only consistent winners are those who profit from the system’s failures, while public safety and real justice are left behind.

And perhaps most disturbing is the role of psychiatrists and so-called “experts” who perform in front of the bench, making sweeping and often unsubstantiated claims about who is or isn’t mentally ill. The process for determining mental illness is arbitrary, lacking scientific rigor or consistency, and often based on nothing more than opinion or institutional convenience. It is a spectacle that strips the court of its integrity and turns justice into a farce. It is, quite simply, unpalatable—and judges should be outraged. More importantly it removes criminal responsibility from offenders.

AbleChild is a 501(3) C nonprofit organization that has recently co-written landmark legislation in Tennessee, setting a national precedent for transparency and accountability in the intersection of mental health, pharmaceutical practices, and public safety.

What you can do.  Sign the Petition calling for federal hearings!

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The post ABLECHILD: Mental Health Courts – America’s $1 Billion Revolving Door of Crime and Corruption first appeared on Joe Hoft.

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