Chuck Grassley: “I'm pleased today to be introducing with Senators DeWine, Leahy, Brownback, and Cantwell the Mentally Ill Offender…”

“I'm pleased today to be introducing with Senators DeWine, Leahy, Brownback, and Cantwell the Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Act of 2002. This bipartisan bill authorizes the Attorney General to administer a grant program to assist communities in planning and implementing services for mentally ill offenders. These grants will increase public safety by fostering collaborative efforts by criminal justice, mental health, and substance abuse agencies. I've seen these types of collaborative programs work in Iowa and I know that they can work elsewhere. We have an obligation to ensure that the public is protected from these offenders who suffer from mental illness. The Bureau of Justice Statistics has reported that over 16 percent of adults incarcerated in U.S. jails and prisons have a mental illness. In addition, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention has reported that over 20 percent of youth in the juvenile justice system have serious mental problems. This grant program will help increase public safety, as well as reduce the number of mentally ill adults and juveniles incarcerated in correctional facilities.”