30:4-27.1 Findings, declarations.

1. The Legislature finds and declares that:

a. The State is responsible for providing care, treatment and rehabilitation services to mentally ill persons who are disabled and cannot provide basic care for themselves or who are dangerous to themselves, others or property; and because some of these mentally ill persons do not seek treatment or are not able to benefit from voluntary treatment provided on an outpatient basis, it is necessary that State law provide for the voluntary admission and the involuntary commitment to treatment of these persons as well as for the public services and facilities necessary to fulfill these responsibilities.

b. Because involuntary commitment to treatment entails certain deprivations of liberty, it is necessary that State law balance the basic value of liberty with the need for safety and treatment, a balance that is difficult to effect because of the limited ability to predict behavior; and, therefore, it is necessary that State law provide clear standards and procedural safeguards that ensure that only those persons who are dangerous to themselves, others or property, are involuntarily committed to treatment.

c. It is the policy of this State that persons in the public mental health system receive inpatient treatment and rehabilitation services in the least restrictive environment in accordance with the highest professional standards and which will enable those persons committed to treatment to return to full autonomy in their community as soon as it is clinically appropriate. In addition, it is the policy of this State to ensure that appropriate outpatient treatment services are readily available to all persons with mental illness, such that involuntary commitment to treatment is rarely required; but that persons with mental illness who are determined to be dangerous to themselves, others or property should be subject to involuntary treatment in the least restrictive environment possible, in an inpatient or outpatient setting clinically appropriate to their condition.

Further, it is the policy of this State that the public mental health system shall be developed in a manner which protects individual liberty and provides advocacy and due process for persons receiving treatment and insures that treatment is provided in a manner consistent with a person's clinical condition.

d. It is the policy of this State to encourage each county or designated mental health service area to develop a screening service, outpatient treatment provider and short-term care facility which will meet the needs for evaluation and treatment of mentally ill persons in the county or service area. The State encourages the development of screening services as the public mental health system's entry point in order to provide accessible crisis intervention, evaluation and referral services to mentally ill persons in the community; to offer mentally ill persons clinically appropriate alternatives to inpatient care, if any; and, when necessary, to provide a means for involuntary commitment to treatment. Similarly, the State encourages the development of community-based outpatient treatment providers and short-term care facilities to enable a mentally ill person to receive outpatient or acute, inpatient care near the person's community. Development and use of screening services, outpatient treatment providers and short-term care facilities throughout the State are necessary to strengthen the Statewide community mental health system, lessen inappropriate hospitalization and reliance on psychiatric institutions and enable State and county facilities to provide the rehabilitative care needed by some mentally ill persons following their receipt of acute care.

L.1987, c.116, s.1; amended 2009, c.112, s.1.