Millions of Americans confront mental health challenges. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)-Massachusetts, 42% of all Massachusetts residents report symptoms of anxiety and depression. Two hundred and sixty thousand Massachusetts residents have a serious mental illness, and 66,000 teens in Massachusetts suffer from depression.

Untreated mental illness is a critical issue in the criminal justice system. Studies show that individuals with serious mental illness are victimized at rates far higher than that of the general population. They are also arrested at far higher rates, even though they commit only 4% of violent crimes. And of course, crime often causes mental health challenges for survivors.

My decade as a prosecutor and 30+ years as an attorney have taught me that understanding and properly addressing mental health disorders is critical to ensuring community safety and providing justice for all.

As District Attorney, I will:

• Support diversion programs for appropriate non-violent offenders with mental illness. These programs have been proven to increase community safety, reduce arrests, and prevent recidivism.

• Recognize the major impact that untreated mental illness has on substance use, which is why I support the expansion of Drug Courts in Norfolk County -- currently, there is only one in Quincy that is expected to serve all 730,000 residents of Norfolk County.

• Improve crisis response coordination by working with law enforcement, mobile crisis teams, and hospitals to ensure safe, appropriate responses to mental health emergencies, including co-response programs in which mental health providers are included in law enforcement responses to mental health emergencies.

• Ensure that all staff receive training in understanding the impact of mental illness and neurodivergence on survivors, witnesses and defendants as well as how to address these issues in court.

• Adopt trauma-informed prosecution practices that recognize the impact of mental illness on behavior while still holding people accountable in ways that reduce recidivism.

• Advocate for system-wide solutions by using the DA’s platform to push for increased access to mental health treatment, housing stability, and reentry services that promote long-term public safety.

Together, we can make break the stigma while making Norfolk County safer and healthier for us all.