New York Gov. Kathy Hochul wants to expand the state’s involuntary commitment laws to allow hospitals to compel more people with mental health struggles into treatment. (John Lamparski/Getty Images)
"We have a duty to protect the public from random acts of violence, and the only fair and compassionate thing to do is to get our fellow New Yorkers the help they need," she continued.
Mental health experts say that most people with mental illness are not violent and are far more likely to be victims of violent crime than they are to carry out a violent crime.
The governor did not provide details on what her legislation would change.
"Currently, hospitals are able to commit individuals whose mental illness puts themselves or others at risk of serious harm, and this legislation will expand that definition to ensure more people receive the care they need," she said.
Hochul also said she would introduce another bill to improve the process in which courts can order people to undergo assisted outpatient treatments for mental illness and make it easier for people to voluntarily sign up for those treatments.
Police investigate at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue Station in Brooklyn after a woman aboard a subway car was set on fire and died in New York, United States on December 22, 2024. (Kyle Mazza/Anadolu via Getty Images)
The medical histories of the suspects in those three incidents were not immediately clear, but New York City Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat, has said the man accused of the knife attack in Grand Central had a history of mental illness and the father of the suspect who shoved a man onto the tracks told The New York Times that he had become concerned about his son's mental health in the weeks prior to the incident.
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Adams has spent the past few years urging the state Legislature to expand mental health care laws and has previously supported a policy that would allow hospitals to involuntarily commit a person who is unable to meet their own basic needs for food, clothing, shelter or medical care.
"Denying a person life-saving psychiatric care because their mental illness prevents them from recognizing their desperate need for it is an unacceptable abdication of our moral responsibility," the mayor said in a statement after Hochul's announcement.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/new-york-gov-kathy-hochul-seeks-expanded-involuntary-commitment-laws-over-violent-crimes-subway