Loretta Rush, Chief Justice of the Indiana Supreme Court, has released the 2023-24 annual report for the state's courts.

The report shows Indiana's judicial system is taking big steps to tackle the mental health crisis. The Supreme Court recently launched the Office of Behavioral Health and hired Brittany Kelly as its behavioral health specialist, making Indiana the tenth state in the country to embed a mental health professional within its judiciary.

"She's off and running. She's had hundreds of inquiries from around the state. She's meeting with judges," Rush outlined. "She's helping with things like competency evaluations, access to Medicaid, how do I get somebody who's going through dementia through the court system?"

Rush pointed out Kelly will help the courts manage the mental health and substance use issues flooding Indiana's courtrooms daily. The latest report shows more than 1 million cases passed through the courts this past fiscal year, including almost 20,000 involuntary mental health hearings and a sharp rise in protective orders for domestic violence.

Rush highlighted the strain on local courts, noting about 70% of people in jail have behavioral health issues.

"How do we make sure we have diversion programs in place? How do we make sure that the services we're ordering for people to do are the right services?" Rush asked. "We've done a lot at the national level with regard to substance abuse and mental health, realizing programs that are working."

The judiciary is working with state agencies to reform policies and address the impact of mental health issues on the system. Kelly has training in both social work and law, and helps judges connect with treatment resources to get people the support they need and keep them out of jail.


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This week, President Joe Biden commuted the sentences of 37 people with federal death row convictions to life sentences without parole.

Groups working on criminal justice reform said it is a start but they would like to see him do more. According to the advocacy group FWD.US, one in two Americans has experienced incarceration in their immediate family and one in three has a criminal record.

Zoë Towns, executive director of FWD.US, applauded Biden's actions and urged him to focus on clemency for those still serving long sentences.

"What we are calling on is for the President in these final weeks of his administration, focus clemency on sentence commutations for people who are in prison," Towns explained. "However, of all of those people -- the pardons and the commutations on home confinement -- nobody actually walked home from prison, right? Nobody's prison term was reduced in any way."

Towns noted most recent commutations for people on house arrest basically removes the threat of reincarceration. She added they are cautiously optimistic Biden will focus on the issue, as a White House news release mentioned the possibility of more pardons and commutations.

Towns pointed out many long-term prison sentences disproportionately affect Black people, citing racial disparities in the harsher past sentences for cocaine possession. The 2010 Fair Sentencing Act reduced the gap but Towns added many remain imprisoned under outdated laws, underscoring the need for clemency.

"We believe that the federal prison population is far too large," Towns contended. "One in eight people who are in prison in the United States are incarcerated in the federal system. There are thousands of people -- nearly 200,000 people -- who have been in that system, who are serving extremely long sentences, and they need attention."

In a bipartisan poll conducted this fall by FWD.US, Towns said more than 80% of respondents agreed clemency should be used more frequently to address lengthy sentences.


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Oregon's constitution guarantees criminal defendants a state-funded lawyer for those who cannot afford one but a massive shortage of public defenders makes it unachievable.

According to the Oregon Justice Research Center, more than 90% of people charged with crimes in Oregon depend on a public defender. However, Oregon has less than a third of the public defense attorneys needed to handle all the cases.

Currently, more than 3,400 Oregonians charged with crimes have no lawyer.

Shannon Wilson, executive director of Public Defenders of Marion County, said public defenders are so overwhelmed with cases they can get burned out after a few years.

"There's not enough attorneys to address that work unless you want to adopt the belief that 300 clients per one attorney is enough to get legal representation," Wilson pointed out.

The Oregon Public Defense Commission estimates the state needs 500 more public defenders to meet its obligations. In 2023, lawmakers approved $96 million for attorney retention, recruitment and pay equity with prosecutors. But the commission said it is not enough.

The Oregon Criminal Justice Commission said recriminalizing low-level drug possession, enacted this year, will lead to nearly 2,300 additional convictions annually, disproportionately affecting people of color. Wilson noted if you can't afford a lawyer, you will likely get put on a waiting list and the wait can be 5 months or more.

Without a lawyer, some people end up spending needless time in jail and are less likely to have a fair trial. Most of Wilson's public defense clients face poverty, medical, or substance-abuse challenges and Wilson added stigma remains a significant barrier to fully funding Oregon's public defense system.

"This is our community, and I feel like we all have a responsibility to take care of everyone," Wilson stressed. "Especially the most vulnerable people that can't advocate for themselves. "

Despite the barriers, Wilson is optimistic Oregon legislators are heading in the right direction. The Oregon Public Defense Commission recommends doubling the state's two-year public defense budget from nearly $600 million to $1.3 billion by 2030.


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West Virginia schools' reliance on zero-tolerance policies are driving more kids into the juvenile justice system - with lifelong consequences, experts say.

New data from the Brookings Institution show Black and Hispanic female students are disproportionately referred to the juvenile justice system for minor offenses.

Elizabeth Shahan, executive director of the nonprofit West Virginia Prevention Solutions, said behavior like vaping in a classroom can land a child in a magistrate's court.

She said research supports using a peer or youth court model that emphasizes positive action, and added it's a huge investment for communities to offer alternatives.

"But when done well, you are judged by a court of your peers, much like a regular courtroom," said Shahan. "That court's job is to come up with a way for you to restore faith in and/or to remedy the situation."

According to the Brookings report, juvenile complaints lead to more school absences and lower test scores.

Black students are more than twice as likely to receive a referral to law enforcement or be arrested at school than white students.

Shahan said research has shown young brains aren't developed enough to fully understand the consequences of their actions.

So, the current punitive model only ensures they have no path forward to recognize their behavior as wrong, or be provided examples of good behavior.

"We now have a situation where we have a serious black mark on that youth's record," said Shahan. "We've basically doomed them to failure."

Shahan added that overuse of the juvenile justice system for minor or nonviolent offenses comes with a hefty price tag for the state.

"A lot of economic research has gone into if we spend a dollar on preventative services, preventative intervention before kids engage in risky behaviors," said Shahan, "then we save $24 in treatment costs, court costs, consequences costs."

She noted that criminal punishment also doesn't address mental health issues that often led to problematic behavior.

According to data from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the number of school-aged kids struggling with anxiety or depression nationwide rose by 1.5 million between 2016 and 2020.