SCPS member and CSAP Board Member Rod Shaner was interviewed recently for an article in the LA Times, Why California’s much-touted CARE Court is ‘no one-and-done program’. The article discusses the roll out of the CARE Act, setting expectations, and how it will be constrained by the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act. Below are quotes from Mr. Shaner. You may read the fill article here.
“The LPS Act was landmark legislation recognizing the complex intersection of mental illness and civil rights. It remains for the most part a widely accepted, precedent-breaking set of regulations,”
“Any attempt “to undermine its core foundation would likely be unsuccessful,” Shaner said. “A wiser and more practical course would be to carefully re-sculpt limited areas and not bring in a new block of marble.”
Assisted Outpatient Treatment (AOT), signed into law in 2002, did not fully realize the lawmakers’ original intent, Shaner said. “AOT didn’t change the basic LPS detention criteria one iota.”