Failure to Appear: Mental Health Professionals' Role Amidst Pretrial Justice Reform

Pretrial detention reform is keeping people who have been arrested on low-level charges out of jail while they await trial. This reform has implications for people with serious mental illnesses who are overrepresented in the criminal legal system and who can now stay connected to families, employment, community supports, and treatment providers while their cases are processed. However, such reforms may have uniquely negative consequences for those with serious mental illnesses. In this Open Forum, the authors argue that it is critical for mental health professionals to understand what pretrial reform entails and to incorporate planning around clients' criminal legal system involvement into their routine clinical work.