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FACT SHEET
Key Aspects of Kevin's Law
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Kevin's Law (SB
683-86 (2003)) creates a program of intensive, court-ordered treatment in the community
for individuals with mental illness in Michigan who are, because of the symptoms of their
illness, least able to help themselves or most likely to present a risk to others.
The legislation
was signed by Gov. Jennifer Granholm on December 27, 2005. It became effective
immediately.
Specifically,
Kevin's Law will:
- Permit people mired by treatable mental illnesses in a revolving
door of homelessness, incarceration, and hospitalization to receive timely treatment and
attain recovery.
- Safeguard the public, by allowing families, caregivers, and
mental health professionals to intervene and secure needed treatment for individuals
incapacitated by mental illness before they become a danger to themselves or others (Until
passage of Kevin’s Law, Michigan law authorized interventions only when there was an
actual danger).
- Allow Michigan courts to order intensive outpatient mental
health care for the small percentage of individuals with mental illness who are either the
most in need of help or the greatest risk to the public.
- Authorize initial assisted outpatient treatment orders of
up to 180 days and renewals of up to one year.
- Provide those under orders with supervised and intensive
treatment in the community until they are again capable of maintaining their own
psychiatric care.
- Ensure that those under assisted outpatient treatment orders
maintain treatment, both by insisting on compliance with the order and through the greater
opportunity to detect any deterioration of the individual's condition afforded by the
increased contact with the mental health system.
The most comprehensive and respected controlled study on
the use of assisted outpatient treatment in other states found that the program, when used
for over 6 months and combined with routine mental health services, reduced hospital
admissions by 57%1 and cut the incidence of violence in half.2 For those with a history of multiple hospitalizations as well
as prior arrests and/or violent behavior, the re-arrest rate was almost one quarter that
of those who were not under treatment orders.3
Thus the assisted outpatient treatment program
established by Kevin's Law will both protect Michigan's citizens and secure vital
treatment for her citizens who are overwhelmed by mental illness.
______________________________
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