Joel’s Law in Washington allows a guardian, conservator or loved one to petition a court to force treatment for people who suffer from serious mental illness. Some supporters of the law have called it a lifeline for family members desperately seeking care for a loved one, but others have concerns about stripping away a person’s civil liberties. The law has been in place for about a decade.
InvestigateWest, the Kitsap Sun and Gig Harbor Now recently co-published a deep dive into the law. Conor Wilson is a reporter for the Kitsap Sun and the nonprofit newsroom Gig Harbor Now. Moe Clark is a collaborative investigative reporter for InvestigateWest. Their positions are supported by the Murrow News Fellowship, an initiative of Washington State University that offers early-career journalists the opportunity to report on civic affairs in underserved communities. They join us with more on Joel’s Law.
Note: The following transcript was transcribed digitally and validated for accuracy, readability and formatting by an OPB volunteer.
Dave Miller: This is Think Out Loud on OPB. I’m Dave Miller. Ten years ago, Washington passed a law that allows a family member or guardian to petition a court to force treatment for people who suffer from serious mental illness. It’s called Joel’s Law.
Moe Clark and Conor Wilson recently worked on a deep dive looking into this law. Moe is a collaborative investigative reporter for InvestigateWest. Conor is a reporter for the Kitsap Sun and the nonprofit newsroom Gig Harbor Now. They both join me. It’s great to have both of you on Think Out Loud.
Moe Clark: Thanks for having us.
Miller: Conor, first – before Joel’s Law passed in 2015, who was able to ask a judge to have someone involuntarily committed?
Conor Wilson: Washington is a bit unique in the fact that decisions here aren’t made by medical professionals, they’re made by designated crisis responders who are mental health workers. Their job is to be a bridge between the court system and the medical system. They’re looking at people to determine if they meet our states’ criteria for involuntary detainment, meaning they pose an imminent threat to themselves, others or have a grave disability because of their behavioral health condition.
Miller: This is one of those laws that’s named after somebody. Who was Joel?
Wilson: Yeah, Joel Rueter was a 28-year-old software engineer living in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood. He was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and he was fatally shot by Seattle police in 2013 while experiencing suicidal ideas and psychosis. His parents said after the fact that they had tried about four dozen times to get their son into treatment. They were consistently told that there was nothing authorities could do until he was involved in the criminal justice system.
Miller: Moe, what changed with the passage of Joel’s law?
Clark: Joel’s Law sort of allowed another avenue for folks to petition the courts outside of just the designated crisis responders, which other states have some more of those avenues. So it allows a family member who might have more of their loved ones’ medical history, and might know their patterns better than a crisis responder that shows up and evaluates someone in the moment, to go to a judge and ask if they can recommend involuntary detainment or mandatory treatment ...
Miller: I’m curious what kind of package of evidence or information families might provide to a judge.
Clark: What we heard through our reporting is kind of all over the board. Some people go all the way back to childhood. One of our sources said that they saw childhood pictures being included in the petitions that they’re submitting to the judge. So stacks and stacks and stacks of paper about their medical history, previous behavioral health crises, jail stints, hospital stays – pretty much anything that can sort of illustrate what they’re struggling with, they can send that to the court.
Miller: Conor, how much is this law used now, meaning, having family members or guardians be the ones who are petitioning for this commitment, as opposed to the established system of non-medical crisis responders?
Wilson: Yeah, it’s becoming increasingly common. We found through our reporting … the sources we spoke with told us that it’s still pretty rare in terms of involuntary detainment. Most are still coming through DCS.
Miller: Moe, can you tell us Tatiana Leone’s story?
Clark: Sure. So Tatiana Leone is a single mom of two kids. She lives in Bremerton, Washington. She successfully used a Joel’s Law petition in 2020 to get her son into involuntary treatment. Her son had struggled for many years since he was a teenager with various behavioral health conditions. He was in an acute crisis in 2020 on Christmas Eve. They had tried to go to the hospital. The crisis responder didn’t recommend involuntary treatment. He ended up running away and when she called the police for help, she asked for him to be evaluated again cause he was sort of expressing concerning things. Instead, the police came, arrested him and took him to jail, which was not what she was advocating for. But it was the police dispatcher that told her about this law.
So the next day, Christmas Day, she spent gathering all those documents that I listed before, in order to submit the petition – which was ultimately granted. But he was only held for three days which is the minimum amount someone can be held for. And she sort of expressed that it felt like she was back to square one after that. She said he wasn’t really stabilized. She was hoping they would keep him longer and come up with a more long-term treatment plan. Obviously, this is just one mom’s experience using this petition, but yeah, she left feeling a bit disappointed.
Miller: Conor, what did you and Moe hear from people who have concerns about this law?
Wilson: I think it’s important to recognize, first off, that the general consensus is this law does what it’s supposed to. It’s pretty positive. There are a lot of people in our state who aren’t getting behavioral health treatment. They’re being shut out of the system, and there are many families who are left in anguish because of that. The concern has always been at what point should someone be involuntarily detained. It’s a complex, often traumatic process. Lots of folks think that we should be more focused on preventive upstream care to prevent people from deteriorating to the point where they need to be detained in the first place, and there’s also concerns of overuse anytime you’re taking away someone’s civil liberties.
Miller: Moe, what about people who are more or less happy with the way this law is working? Are there people that you talked to who said, “yes, I’m glad this is now on the books”?
Clark: We heard from mostly medical folks that were overwhelmingly positive about this law. I think there seems to be sort of a general consensus in the medical community that the bar is pretty high and there’s only a few avenues to get someone into treatment using this avenue. So I think this was viewed, again, as another pathway and that seemed to have positive results.
But again, this is just one piece in an extremely complex mental health landscape that’s filled with pits and disappointment. So I don’t know if anyone is like, “this changed things, we are way better than we were before.” It’s kind of a depressing way to put it, but kind of part of the bigger picture, which is there’s still a whole lot to do.
Miller: Moe Clark and Conor Wilson, thanks very much.
Wilson: Thank you.
Clark: Thanks.
Miller: Moe Clark is a collaborative investigative reporter for InvestigateWest. Conor Wilson is a reporter for the Kitsap Sun and nonprofit newsroom Gig Harbor Now.
I just want to mention the situation in Oregon right now because this is a live issue in the Oregon Legislature. In Oregon, any two people with knowledge of a person’s mental illness can petition a court to force treatment. Lawmakers are considering a proposal to change the state’s civil commitment laws. Proponents say current standards set the bar too high to force people into treatment, and that by updating those rules, people can get the care they need before they commit a criminal act. Opponents say that forcing people into treatment threatens an already overwhelmed mental health system and could make outcomes worse for people living with mental illness.
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