A bill headed to Gov. Bill Lee’s desk would make it so anyone deemed unfit to stand trial would be automatically committed. The measure, which received bipartisan support in the House and Senate, aims to fill a gap in the state’s criminal justice system for defendants with a mental illness or intellectual disability.
The bill was named Jillian’s Law in honor of Belmont University freshman Jillian Ludwig who was killed by a stray bullet in November. The man accused of shooting her has an intellectual disability and was deemed unfit to stand trial for a separate, gun-related charge. He was released months prior to the shooting because he didn’t fit the threshold for involuntary commitment.
The bill’s sponsor, Rep. William Lamberth, said he intends to lower that threshold.
“As long as they are not competent to even talk to their lawyer about their case, they’re going to go to inpatient treatment. If ever they are safe to be let out of an inpatient treatment, there will be mandatory outpatient treatment, and the funding is provided for in this bill,” Lamberth said on the House floor.
The bill creates two more beds for people with intellectual disabilities statewide. Disability rights advocates warn the funding won’t be enough to keep up with the anticipated rise in people being committed.
“This would give us a total of six beds for the whole state of Tennessee,” said Zoe Jamail of Disability Rights Tennessee. “And while they’re waiting, they are languishing in jails without receiving any services. This bill does nothing to change that.”
In a national survey, Tennessee was one of two states to explicitly say that patients who are judged unfit to stand trial often stay in state hospitals for life. Studies show these patients can remain in the hospital years longer than they would have been in prison for the same crime if they did not have a mental illness.
Tennessee currently doesn’t have the bed space to accommodate everyone who may need state care. A recent report found that the average psychiatric patient in Tennessee waits 60 days in jail for placement within a state hospital.
Jamail also warned that the bill lumps violent and non-violent crimes together — and changes how people are deemed a threat.
“Right now, in order to judicially commit or involuntarily commit someone, the burden is on the state to show a substantial likelihood of serious harm,” she said. “But now that burden is shifting to the defendant.”
In order to be released, a court has to give the defendant mandatory outpatient treatment. Which, Jamail said, the court might be hesitant to do if the funding for the treatment isn’t there.
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