Rights group report identifies alternatives to mental health crisis response in US News
Rigos101, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Rights group report identifies alternatives to mental health crisis response in US

Human Rights Watch published a report Monday identifying numerous programs throughout the US that provide alternatives to traditional police response for emergency mental health crises.

The report, “‘Self-Determination is the Pathway to Liberation’: Alternative Mental Health Crisis Response in the United States,” surveyed 150 non-police crisis response programs across the US. Focusing on eight of those programs, organizational authors of the report—Human Rights Watch, New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, and the Center for Racial and Disability Justice at UCLA Law School—did not endorse any particular program, but found these non-police centered programs used strategies that “can advance rights-based mental health crisis support services.” Local programs included the Mobile Assistance Community Responders of Oakland, Cambridge Holistic Emergency Alternative Response Team, and others.

The chief strategy among alternative response models involved “removal of police as primary or default responders to mental health crises.” The report stated that police presence tends to escalate such situations, especially considering the police’s broad function and enforcement discretion. Other alternative strategies included not forcing services upon individuals experiencing a mental health crisis and deploying responders who have personally experienced mental health crises or substance abuse.

The report provided a legal basis for non-policing models, including primarily the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The ADA prohibits discrimination by government entities on the basis of disability status. Citing a 2023 Justice Department investigation, the report noted that police can violate the ADA if they do not adopt modifications to their emergency response programs that accommodate people with disabilities.

Studies have indicated that alternative emergency response model development is particularly important given the greater risk of police violence people with disabilities face. The report recounted multiple individual examples of police violence against people with disabilities, including Freddie Gray, whose murder by Baltimore police in 2015 led to protests and civil unrest throughout the city.

The report builds on growing organizational efforts to promote alternative emergency response models, including the Marshall Project, a nonprofit that advocates for criminal justice reforms in the US. Larger organizations like ACLU state affiliates have also endorsed less police involvement in mental health crises.

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