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Jennifer Webb Files Legislation to Curb ‘Unnecessary’ Baker Acts in Florida Schools

Rep. JenniferWebb is responding to recent reports of children being sometimes unnecessarily removed from school under Florida’s Baker Act over incidents school officials or law enforcement officers deem unsafe to the student or others. Webb’s…
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Child Baker Act Cases Continue to Climb in Florida

Florida has once again broken the records for the number of people mentally evaluated, involuntarily, under the state’s Baker Act. In May, investigative reporter Karla Ray first exposed that child Baker Act cases have more than doubled…
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This Teen Planned a School Shooting. But Did He Break the Law?

It was sunny and cold on Feb. 13, 2018, when 18-year-old Jack Sawyer walked out of Dick's Sporting Goods in Rutland, Vt., with a brand-new pump-action shotgun and four boxes of ammunition. The next day, Valentine's Day, Sawyer took his…
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Prisons Are Housing Mental Health Patients Who’ve Committed No Crimes

Andrew Butler was a popular kid at Hollis Brookline High School in New Hampshire, an honors student who was captain of the football and wrestling teams. Then, during college, Andrew tore his leg muscles, making even walking to class difficult.…
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Charged with a Tampa Murder 20 Years Ago, He Still Awaits Trial

He lives in a dorm room in a tan and white building surrounded by metal fences and razor wire. The institution sits on a grassy patch south of Miami, at the edge of the Everglades, almost at the edge of the Sunshine State. His days are spent…
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Mentally Ill South Florida Man Starved to Death in Prison, Lawsuit Alleges – The Miami New Times

When Vincent Gaines was sentenced to five years in prison on robbery charges in June 2013, state officials recommended he be placed in a mental-health unit because he had regular visual and auditory hallucinations. So Gaines was transferred…
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Sex Crimes and Criminal Justice: Formerly Incarcerated Sex Offenders Say Civil Commitment Programs Deny Proper Rehabilitation – The Washington Spectator

In this article, journalist Barbara Koeppel reports on the problems with sex-offender treatment programs. Read more.
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Intersection: Exploring the Overlap Between Mental Health and Law Enforcement – WMFE

In this episode of Intersection, 90.7 News Director Catherine Welch, Ninth Circuit Public Defender Robert Wesley, and Treatment Advocacy Center Director Frankie Berger discuss how Florida approaches the intersection of mental illness and law…
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Some Wanted Florida Suspect Committed in 2016 – The Palm Beach Post

Newly released documents show that some wanted Nikolas Cruz involuntarily committed under the Baker Act as early as 2016. Experts say that involuntary commitment would have made in nearly impossible for Cruz to purchase firearms. Read more…
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After Parkland, Admissions to Mental Health Treatment Centers in Florida Spike – The Miami Herald

Mental health treatment centers in Florida have seen a drastic uptick in the number of admissions since Nikolas Cruz killed 17 people in a school shooting in Parkland. Read more.