An American tragedy

by Katti Gray

When LaShaun Harris, a 23-year-old California mother, threw her three young sons off a pier into the San Francisco Bay last October, many weren’t able to imagine how such a thing could happen. Then the full, troubling picture emerged: Harris, according to her attorney, had been battling schizophrenia. She reportedly told police after her arrest that voices in her head drove her to toss her children away. Today Harris shuttles between a jail cell and a local psychiatric hospital as she awaits trial on three counts of murder - charges that could lead to life in prison without parole.

The Treatment Advocacy Center, recognizing the potential for disastrous situations like Harris’s, has lobbied since 1998 for stricter court-ordered treatment of the mentally ill. Their lobby has been met with degrees of success in 17 states, including California, where lawmakers approved measures to strengthen court-mandated interventions but left each county to tailor its own program and find its own funding.

More from Essence | More on the LaShaun Harris case | More on California’s court-ordered treatment law, Laura’s Law | More for family members whose loved one is in crisis |