I’m a California judge, here’s how to fix our mental health crisis

As a San Mateo County judge, I have come to understand firsthand how our state’s criminal justice system has become its largest, most expensive and least effective mental health provider. 

In my courtroom, I see individuals arrested for low-level thefts, trespassing, vandalism and drug possession. Many of these defendants are homeless. Many suffer from severe mental illness, addiction or both. Some have been living on the streets for years. Probably a majority have cycled through emergency rooms, shelters, county jails and treatment programs without ever achieving lasting stability.

I see defendants who hear and converse with voices no one else can hear. I see veterans struggling with trauma and addiction as a result of their military service. I see parents whose substance abuse has cost them custody of their children. I see individuals who self-medicate with hard drugs, only to find themselves repeatedly arrested. The criminal justice system is often not the root problem, but a symptom of deeper behavioral health challenges that have gone untreated for years.

What is particularly striking and heartbreaking is how often these same individuals return and stand before me. A person may appear before the court, be released before any meaningful services can be offered and return months later in even worse condition. For many, the courtroom has become just one more stop on a revolving door that cycles them between homelessness, hospitalization and incarceration.

This pattern is frustrating for victims, law enforcement, families, taxpayers, those trying to help, and, most importantly, for the individuals trapped in it.

I think of Laura, who was 61 years old, and appeared before me for a series of incidents in which she damaged local businesses, directed hostile outbursts at strangers and violently resisted law enforcement. At the time of her arrest, her behavior suggested someone in the midst of a significant mental health crisis. In court, she was polite, respectful and embarrassed. In the middle of testimony, during a moment of lucidity, she started crying. 

Moments like these are a powerful reminder that mental illness often masks the person underneath. I became a judge to help people, and I was powerless. Jails were not created for Laura. I couldn’t release her because she was still unstable. What troubled me most was that, despite her obvious need, I had no available hospital to send her to so she could receive the care while her case remained pending.

I see a similar crisis every week in my courtroom. I see defendants with clear mental health issues move repeatedly through the system — not because incarceration solves the problem, but because too often there is nowhere else for them to go. Judges are asked to deliver on public safety, accountability and rehabilitation, yet we lack the legislation and the treatment infrastructure needed to do so effectively.

Many residents are rightly frustrated by the visible disorder playing out on their streets and in their communities. Public safety matters. Accountability matters. Our current approach is failing at both.

Police officers are dispatched to psychiatric emergencies, which they were never trained to manage. Jails, designed for punishment and security, are expected to provide treatment and recovery services. Our state hospitals are statutorily not designed to treat the underlying causes of mental illness. None of this works, and taxpayers bear the enormous financial cost of repeated failure.

Our jail staff does not receive enough credit for the daily battle they face while serving this population. According to national studies, a substantial percentage of incarcerated people suffer from mental illness or substance-use disorders. Many are arrested not because they are hardened criminals, but because they are sick or unstable. They deteriorate in custody, consume enormous public resources and return to the system again and again. As someone who lives and works in the arena daily, I see the crisis only getting worse.

This failure is moral and financial. Research consistently shows that treatment-focused interventions reduce recidivism, improve public-safety outcomes and cost far less than incarceration. Mental health courts, drug treatment courts and crisis-response teams that pair clinicians with law enforcement and supportive housing programs have all demonstrated success. These models are already operating successfully in communities throughout California and across the country.

What is missing is not evidence. It is political will to fully embrace and pay for what works.

If California is serious about improving public safety, reducing homelessness and curbing repeat criminal behavior, several things must happen.

First, the state must dramatically expand access to secure mental health and substance-abuse treatment beds. Second, tear down the silos. State and local leaders must create integrated systems that help coordinate between the courts, clinicians, law enforcement and service providers. Finally, tough decisions are needed to ensure care is provided early and effectively, treating mental health and substance abuse at the earliest onset, even if it requires removing someone from the community to receive proper care.

Most importantly, policymakers must stop portraying treatment and accountability as opposing ideas. Effective treatment is accountability. Helping stabilize individuals with severe mental illness and addiction is not being “soft on crime.” It is one of the smartest public safety investments we can make.

More than 60 years ago, President John F. Kennedy warned that society must “return to the community the mentally ill, and restore and revitalize their lives through better health programs and strengthened educational and rehabilitation services.” California still has not fully answered that call.

The question is whether policymakers are finally willing to listen to those on the front lines before another generation is lost to a system that fails to provide appropriate treatment. 

Michael Wendler is a California Superior Court judge in San Mateo County. You can find him on LinkedIn.