NAMI-NYC is dedicated to working with families and communities to enact policies that divert people living with a mental illness from the criminal legal system and towards recovery. 

Further, we support improving our criminal legal system and the movement towards decarceration, to help ensure the best outcomes for people living with a mental illness who enter or exit the system. Some ways NAMI-NYC supports decriminalizing mental illness include: 

Peer-Led, Non-Police Crisis Response 

As a Steering Committee Member of the Correct Crisis Intervention Today-NYC (CCIT-NYC) coalition, NAMI-NYC strives to transform how New York City responds to the 200,000+ mental health crises calls that the NYPD responds to. We want a non-police, peer-led response to mental health crisis calls in New York City. Since 2015, at least 20 people have been murdered after the police responded to mental health crisis calls in our city — most of those individuals identified as Black or brown. 

While New York City’s pilot program, B-HEARD, aims to provide an alternative to police response to mental health crisis, NAMI-NYC believes that the current model must shift toward a peer-led response. We support the CCIT-NYC model, which is the only model to center peers at its core and to have known positive outcomes. 

At the state level, we support the passage and effective implementation of Daniel’s Law. Similarly to CCIT-NYC, this legislation aims to remove police from mental health crisis response. We eagerly anticipate the recommendations from the Daniel’s Law Task Force and hope to see more forward movement on this important matter.  

Investing in Mental Health Courts 

As part of the Treatment Not Jail coalition, we support the use of mental health courts as an off-ramp from the criminal legal system. We must properly treat mental illnesses underlying some criminal offenses, rather than further deteriorating an individual’s mental health in jail or prison.  

The goal of mental health courts is to reduce the incarceration and recidivism rates of individuals with mental health conditions who commit low-level, non-violent offenses by linking them to local behavioral health providers to develop individualized treatment plans. You can read more about mental health treatment courts and the importance of expanding access to them in our report linked here. 

Closing Rikers  

One of the largest providers of psychiatric care in the nation should not be a jail. Conditions on Rikers have deprived New Yorkers of their human rights and in the worst cases, their lives. The systems in place on Rikers Island disregard inmates’ right to medical and mental health care. Reform is simply not enough, so we endorse the Campaign to Close Rikers. 

Effective Implementation of the 988 Mental Health Crisis Lifeline 

The nationwide 3-digit number, 988, is a line to call or text for mental health crisis and suicide prevention services. 988 should drastically reduce the likelihood of the police potentially responding to a mental health crisis when someone needs the support of a mental health professional or connection to resources. Now, we must ensure that the implementation of 988 pairs mental health crisis calls to appropriate peer-led mobile crisis response teams. Calling 988 currently connects to the dispatch associated with a phone’s area code. We hope to see a shift to georouting services so individuals, loved ones, and practitioners can be directly connected to dispatchers who can connect them with support in the area they are calling from.  

Adhering to Crisis Response Protocol in Schools 

School Public Safety Officers should not be a student’s first point of contact when they are experiencing a mental health crisis. Schools must establish proper behavioral health intervention protocols that incorporate students’ Behavorial Intervention Plans. School-based clinicians and counselors will follow those protocols when a student is experiencing a mental health crisis.