Kendra's Law, effective since November 1999, is a New York State law concerning involuntary outpatient commitment also known as assisted outpatient treatment.[1] It grants judges the authority to issue orders that require people who meet certain criteria to regularly undergo psychiatric treatment. Failure to comply could result in commitment for up to 72 hours. Kendra's Law does not mandate that patients be forced to take medication.
It was originally proposed by members of the National Alliance on Mental Illness,[2] the Alliance on Mental Illness of New York State, and many local NAMI chapters throughout the state. They were concerned that laws were preventing individuals with serious mental illness from receiving care until after they became "dangerous to self or others". They viewed outpatient commitment as a less expensive, less restrictive and more humane alternative to inpatient commitment.
The members of NAMI, working with NYS Assemblywoman Elizabeth Connelly, NYC Department of Mental Health Commissioner Luis Marcos, and Howard Telson were successful in getting a three-year pilot commitment program started at Bellevue Hospital.[3] When the Bellevue Outpatient Commitment Program came to an end, Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, the Treatment Advocacy Center and mental health advocate DJ Jaffe put together a coalition to pass a statewide law.[4] It was based on the same concept as the Bellevue Outpatient Commitment Program[5] but with important differences.[6]