HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.C.R. NO.

155

TWENTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2004

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 
   


HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

ESTABLISHING A JUDICIARY WORK GROUP TO EVALUATE AND RECOMMEND METHODS TO STREAMLINE COURT-ORDERED FORENSIC EVALUATIONS AND TO DELIVER APPROPRIATE MENTAL HEALTH TREATMENT TO PRETRIAL DETAINEES.

 

WHEREAS, the Hawaii Disability Rights Center studied a random sample of sixty-seven pretrial detainees who were the subject of court-ordered forensic examinations in 2001 and 2002; and

WHEREAS, each person's criminal justice proceeding was examined in-depth to construct individual timelines for the mental evaluation process provided under section 704-404, Hawaii Revised Statutes; and

WHEREAS, the mental evaluation process averaged eighty-four days from the date of issuance of the court's order for mental examination, to the judicial ruling of fitness to proceed; and

WHEREAS, during the forensic evaluation process, persons suspected of mental illness may remain in prison for weeks or months without appropriate mental health treatment; and

WHEREAS, thirty-five percent of all persons who undergo a forensic examination are declared unfit to proceed or are acquitted or conditionally released; and

WHEREAS, the initial period of evaluation was extended by the court for additional periods of 30-180 days in 31.4% of the cases reviewed; and

WHEREAS, generally, misdemeanant pretrial detainees who undergo one-panel forensic examinations are incarcerated far longer than if they were convicted of the crime with which they are charged; and

WHEREAS, basic constitutional rights to a speedy trial are suspended throughout the mental evaluation process as, in order to protect the Fourteenth Amendment due process rights of a possibly incompetent criminal defendant, a detainee's Fifth Amendment due process right to liberty and Sixth Amendment right to a speedy trial are suspended indefinitely; and

WHEREAS, there is an inevitable tension between the individualized approach to accommodating mental disabilities and the efficient administration of the criminal justice process; and

WHEREAS, many alternatives are explored in the study conducted by the Hawaii Disability Rights Center entitled "Pretrial Detainees: Impact of Court Ordered Mental Evaluations on Due Process Rights", issued December 2003, including but not limited to:

(1) Mental health courts;

(2) Develop a forensic mental health model;

(3) Develop forensic mental health treatment in state correctional facilities, a form of "forensic triage"; and

(4) Amend section 704-404, Hawaii Revised Statues, to provide timelines for evaluation; and

WHEREAS, the Judiciary could greatly assist those with mental disabilities by evaluating and establishing a specified time frame for the mental evaluation process, to enable a pretrial detainee suspected of mental illness to be evaluated and, upon being diagnosed with mental illness, to receive appropriate mental health treatment in a more appropriate and expedient period of time; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-Second Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2004, the Senate concurring, that the Judiciary is requested to convene a working group to evaluate potential methods to streamline and expedite the process by which pretrial detainees are evaluated for competency and fitness to proceed to trial; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the working group is requested to review alternatives to facilitate the provision of appropriate mental health services at the earliest possible stage of criminal justice process; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the working group be composed of, but not limited to, representatives from the Judiciary, Office of the Prosecutor, Office of the Public Defender, Department of Public Safety, Department of Health, Hawaii Disability Rights Center, National Alliance for the Mentally Ill – Oahu, and the Hawaii Government Employees Association; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Judiciary is requested to report the working group's findings and recommendations to the Legislature not later than twenty days prior to the Regular Session of 2005; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Chief Justice, Prosecuting Attorney, Public Defender, Director of Public Safety, Director of Health, President of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill – Oahu, and the Executive Director of the Hawaii Government Employees Association.

 

 

 

OFFERED BY:

_____________________________

Report Title:

Court-ordered forensic evaluations and mental health treatment.