Home page
What's new
Networking
Briefing Papers
fact sheets, news articles, personal accounts, suggested reading
law articles, historic case summaries, state commitment laws and analyses
lack of insight, consequences of delayed treatment, victimization
press releases, statements, fact sheets, testimony, speeches for news media
state-by-state searchable database of violent acts by individuals with untreated mental illness
Interesting web sites or news items of activities occuring in states around the country
Hospital Closures and the Medicaid IMD Exclusion
Search Our Site

wpe1.jpg (2698 bytes)

PRESS KIT: Kevin's Law, Michigan

CONTACT: Alicia Aebersold, Treatment Advocacy Center, 703 294 6008 (p), 703 294 6010 (f), [email protected]

issue summary | latest update | quick press kit | full press kit

LATEST UPDATE - Kevin's Law took effect on March 30, 2005. Kevin’s Law allows judges to order outpatient treatment for people with untreated severe mental illnesses who meet specific criteria, including a recent history of hospitalizations, incarcerations, or behavior dangerous to themselves or others because of their illness. The package of four bills known as Kevin’s Law was championed by Sens. Tom George (R, 20th District) and Virg Bernero (D, 23rd District) and signed by Gov. Jennifer Granholm in December. Forty-two (42) states allow the use of this effective treatment mechanism, known as assisted outpatient treatment (AOT).

ISSUE SUMMARY On Aug. 17, 2000, Kevin Heisinger, 24, was on a bus home to Chicago from orientation at the University of Michigan School of Social Work. Brian Williams of Yspilanti, then 40, beat Heisinger to death with his fists in the men's rest room of the Kalamazoo bus station. Williams, who was not taking medication, said that voices made him beat the young man to death. He had been diagnosed with schizophrenia when he was a teenager.

To honor Heisinger's memory, his family and Sen. Tom George, R-Texas Township, and Sen. Virg Bernero, D-Lansing, have been working to pass "Kevin's Law," which would permit court-ordered outpatient treatment for mentally ill people who are least able to help themselves or most likely to present a risk to others. Michigan legislators and Kevin's family announced their intention to introduce "Kevin's Law" August 17, 2001, on the one-year anniversary of Kevin's death. 

At the time, both Sen. George and Sen. Bernero were in the Michigan House. Now in the Senate, they reintroduced the measure August 13, 2003, as Senate Bills 683 - 686.

QUICK PRESS KIT

issue summary | latest update | quick press kit | full press kit

FULL PRESS KIT

resources |  releases |  articles | background/contacts | links | other TAC press kits
back to QUICK KIT

RESOURCES

RELEASES

ARTICLES

BACKGROUND/CONTACTS

LINKS

OTHER RELEVANT TAC PRESS KITS

issue summary | latest update | quick press kit | full press kit

general resources | legal resources | medical resources | briefing papers | state activity   
hospital closures | preventable tragedies | press room | search | home

FootnoteImage2.jpg (1088 bytes)
Treatment Advocacy Center

 The contents of TAC's website are copyrighted by the Treatment Advocacy Center unless otherwise indicated. All rights reserved and content may be reproduced, downloaded, disseminated, or transferred, for single use, or by nonprofit organizations for educational purposes only, if correct attribution is made. TAC is an I.R.C. � 501(c)(3) tax-exempt corporation. Donations are appreciated and are eligible for the charitable contribution deduction under the provisions of I.R.C. � 170. Please note that TAC does not accept funding from pharmaceutical companies or entities involved in the sale, marketing, or distribution of such products.
Treatment Advocacy Center (TAC), 200 N. Glebe Road, Suite 730, Arlington, VA 22203
703 294 6001/6002 (phone) | 703 294 6010 (fax) | www.treatmentadvocacycenter.org (website)
[email protected] (general email) | [email protected] (press contact)
[email protected] (webmaster)