Let me start this whole thing off by saying this is NOT about “other” people. This is about you. Yes, you. Because most Americans believe the criminal legal system is something that happens to someone else.
That belief is fragile.
Mental health emergencies and substance use are not rare edge cases. They are common human experiences. Depression. Panic attacks. PTSD. Psychosis. Alcohol dependence. Opioid addiction. Medication lapses. Moments where coping fails.
When those moments intersect with law enforcement instead of care, the odds of entering the criminal legal system rise sharply.
And once someone is inside it, exit is not at all guaranteed.
How Mental Health Crises Become Criminal Cases
In many communities, police are the default first responders for mental health emergencies. And that’s a huge problem when a wellness check becomes a confrontation, confusion becomes noncompliance and fear becomes resistance.
What begins as a mental health crisis can very quickly devolve. Law enforcement can reframe the entire incident as disorderly conduct, obstruction, trespass, or worse. The legal system responds not to illness, but to behavior stripped entirely of context.
For people experiencing psychosis, severe anxiety, or trauma responses, the system is structurally incapable of interpreting distress as anything other than defiance.
The odds are not neutral. They are stacked.
Addiction and the Criminalization of Survival
Addiction does not just increase the risk of arrest. It multiplies it.
People with substance use disorders are more likely to be stopped, searched, cited, and charged. They are more likely to miss court dates, violate probation conditions, and accumulate technical violations unrelated to new harm.
Court involvement makes everything harder. Criminal records then make recovery harder. Employment becomes harder. Housing becomes harder. Treatment becomes harder.
The system creates the very instability it later punishes, creating a nasty, vicious cycle for its own benefit rather than making society better.
The Numbers Tell a Consistent Story
People with serious mental illness are vastly overrepresented in jails and prisons. A significant portion of incarcerated individuals meet criteria for substance use disorders. Many experience both.
These are not marginal overlaps. They are intentionally set structural pipelines.
Once labeled, the label follows.
The Question We Avoid Asking
So here’s where you come in. Because people always assume they would be treated differently. They imagine compliance would protect them. That explanations would matter. That someone would notice the difference between illness and intent.
That assumption is comforting. It is also wildly incorrect.
The system does not run on nuance (unless you’re wealthy). For the rest of us, it runs on procedures, timelines, and classifications. Once behavior is framed as criminal, the opportunity for “understanding” closes quickly.
If you would not want your worst mental health moment interpreted as criminal intent, this is already personal.
Families Pay the Price Too
Criminal legal involvement does not stop with the individual.
Families scramble to find lawyers. To post bond. To explain sudden absences to employers, schools, and children. They absorb stigma, financial strain, and prolonged uncertainty.
Parents lose custody. Children lose stability. Caregivers lose capacity.
None of this improves safety. It simply spreads harm outward.
If You Would Not Accept This Treatment, Change Cannot Wait
It is easy to discuss reform as charity for others.
It is more honest to recognize it as self-preservation.
Mental health crises and addiction touch nearly every family eventually. The question is not whether someone you love will struggle. It is whether the system they encounter will respond with care or punishment.
If we would not want our own worst moment processed through handcuffs, jail cells, and permanent records, then now is the moment to insist on change.
Not later. Not after another tragedy. Not after another family is pulled into a system they never expected to face.
What Must Change
Mental health and addiction cannot remain law enforcement problems disguised as public safety solutions.
Communities need crisis response systems that prioritize care. Courts need diversion that is real, not conditional punishment. Sentencing frameworks must recognize illness and addiction as risk factors for harm by the system, not justification for it.
The odds are high because the design is wrong.
And until that design changes, no one should assume they are immune.
Sources
- National Alliance on Mental Illness. Criminalization of People with Mental Illness
- Bureau of Justice Statistics. Indicators of Mental Health Problems Reported by Prisoners
