RIVERSIDE – The Riverside District Attorney’s Office is joining the California District Attorneys Association in their statewide call for the California Legislature to pass common sense mental health diversion (MHD) legislation, Assembly Bill 46. This legislation is sponsored by the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office, and co-sponsored by many district attorneys’ Offices across the state, including the Riverside Office.  This bill closes legal loopholes in California’s mental health diversion law by restoring judicial discretion and ensuring the program provides treatment while protecting community safety.

“Our office proudly co-sponsors AB 46 because it restores common-sense public safety protections to mental health diversion by ensuring judges can deny diversion to defendants who pose a substantial and undue risk to others, requires courts to consider victims’ rights under Marsy’s Law, and mandates robust treatment plans when diversion is granted,” District Attorney Mike Hestrin said. “After repeated tragic cases in which dangerous defendants committed new violent crimes while on diversion, AB 46 strikes the right balance between treatment and community safety.”

Across California, reports have shown tragic cases in which dangerous individuals were granted mental health diversion only to commit violent crimes later - including murder, attempted murder, domestic violence and more. 

Mental health diversion, created under Penal Code §1001.36, was designed to help individuals suffering from mental illness receive treatment instead of incarceration. However, recent court rulings and statutory limitations have significantly restricted judges’ ability to deny diversion - even in serious and violent cases - leaving courts with limited authority to evaluate whether diversion is truly appropriate. 

Under current law, once a defendant meets certain statutory criteria, judges have very limited discretion to deny diversion. Courts have even been forced to approve diversion in cases where no clear treatment plan exists, community safety is at risk, or where defendants have failed prior treatment efforts - due to how the statute is written and interpreted by appellate courts. 

Further, once a defendant completes Mental Health Diversion, the crime is removed from the defendant’s criminal history, removing accountability for dangerous crimes as if the crime was never committed. This puts victims, law enforcement and communities at risk if the program is not implemented properly.

AB 46 addresses these concerns by allowing courts to consider whether a defendant poses a substantial and undue risk to the physical safety of another person and whether the proposed treatment plan is clinically appropriate to address the mental health condition that contributed to the crime. 

AB 46 will be heard in the Senate Public Safety Committee on March 17. Members of the public can watch the hearing live at 8:30 a.m. at: https://spsf.senate.ca.gov/committeehome

Read the CDAA letter of support here. For more information about the mental health diversion loophole visit www.placer.ca.gov/MHD