The Wilson Center for Science and Justice at Duke Law hosts a roundtable discussion about people with mental illnesses who are criminally accused and found incompetent to proceed in the criminal legal system. Topics include how competency restoration poses a challenge and costly management problem for state mental health and criminal legal systems; alternative pathways to community reentry for this population; the ethical-legal aspects; how mental health authorities and policymakers in different states are (or aren't) dealing with it, and what should be done. Panelists are Dr.

Civil commitment and the mental health care continuum: Historical trends and principles for law and practice.

Jeffrey Swanson is Professor in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Duke University School of Medicine. Swanson holds a PhD in sociology from Yale University. He is a social scientist researcher who collaborates across disciplines to build evidence for interventions, policies and laws to improve outcomes for adults with serious mental illnesses in the community, and to reduce firearm-related violence and suicide.

In this series, hosted by the Center for Firearms Law, we talk with experts on various aspects of firearms law & policy about the role of guns in the ongoing pandemic. This interview with Prof. Jeff Swanson discusses the potential for increased risks of firearm suicide during the pandemic.

Presented by the Duke Center for Firearms Law

Appearing: Jeffrey Swanson (Duke University School of Medicine) and Jacob D. Charles (Duke Law)

Originally recorded on May 4, 2020.