# Federal Health Court: Viable alternative?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/federal-health-court-viable-alternative/341281>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [January 23, 2006, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/federal-health-court-viable-alternative/341281 "2006-01-23T18:43:25Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Syntropy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@Syntropy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Syntropy)\
**Post date:** [January 23, 2006, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/federal-health-court-viable-alternative/341281/1 "2006-01-23T18:43:25Z")

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There’s a story featured in today’s [SF Chronicle](http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/01/23/MNGBNGRIFC1.DTL) about the city’s behavioral health court. It’s apparently being used as an alternative for some repeat offenders with mental health issues who would ordinarily get lost in the system and end up as repeat offenders on a perpetual loop in and out of California prisons without ever getting help for their underlying issues.

According to the article:

> [@](#):
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> The Bureau of Justice Administration says the rate of mental illness in U.S. jails and prisons is 16 percent, more than three times the average for all Americans, and at least 75 percent of those people have substance abuse problems. With 2 million people behind bars in the United States, and 10 million booked into jails every year, cities, counties and courts are looking for ways to ease the burden.

The article also cites a recidivism rate of 12%.

Is it possible for these courts to ease the burden of the current criminal justice system? And if so, what’s the potential for abuse of this system?