Information on the enforcement of New York's "Kendra's Law" as of April 1, 2005, from the NYCLU:

Racial Bias: 42% of IOC (Involuntary Outpatient Commitment) order recipients are Black. 34% of IOC order recipients are White. 21% are Hispanic. Black people are almost five times as likely as White people to be the recipients of IOC orders. Hispanic people are two and a half times as likely as non-Hispanic White people to be the recipients of IOC orders. Geographical Bias: New York City (5 counties or boroughs) 3,078 orders. Nassau County 165 orders. Suffolk County 254 orders. 41 other counties combined 547. 14 counties have entered no orders. People who live in New York City are more than four times as likely to be the recipients of IOC orders as people living in the rest of the state. Loss of Rights: People with multiple psychiatric hospitalizations, but no histories of hurting others, are the primary recipients of IOC orders. 88% of those orders direct a medication regimen. 75% of those orders direct participation in individual and/or group therapy. 40% of those orders direct participation in substance abuse programs. 37% of those orders direct participation in blood or urine testing. 31% of those orders direct participation in specific housing or housing support services. 22% of those orders direct participation in specific day program services.

There needs to be some consistency needs to be built into the United States legal system.

If a 14 or 15 year old can be tried as an adult, then they should be consistently treated as an adult. They should be able to drive, vote, and buy cigarettes and alcohol. They should be able to make their own choices when it comes to psychiatric and medical care, just like an adult. They should be granted all the rights of adulthood, not just the penalties. Either that or don't try them as adults.

If a extremely poor person commits a petty crime and can't afford to pay the fine they go to jail, often for 10 to 30 days or more. They have done nothing worse than a person with the money that commits the same petty crime. The jail time is a much harsher punishment than someone who can pay the fine. And if the person paying the fine is rich, it isn't really much of a punishment at all. If the crime is concerning enough to throw the impoverished in jail, it should be concerning enough to throw anyone in jail. Do away with the fine, and make it a flat out jail sentence. Either that or weight the fine to the persons income and wealth.

If a person would not be considered mentally competent enough to be be responsible for their own actions and decisions in criminal matters, they should be able to choose what if any psychiatric care they want to receive. Forcing medication, elctroconvulsive therapy, residential programs, and other "treatments" on people who can make their own competent decisions is a travesty of civil liberties.

I could go on with examples like these for quite some time. The claim of consistency is often used to defend the American legal system, but that's absolutely not the case. It is so unfair and inconsistent it literally reeks. Change needs to be had.

my mind feels like it is locking up. it's getting hard to think sometimes. sometimes i am fine. but that's becoming less and less. right now it is hard to function. it's hard to coordinate movement. i feel my mind collapsing in on itself. i go deep into that cave until i can no longer see the entrance. the entrance is the exit. the rocks are moist and cold and i feel them even in the heat. i don't know where this is going or how deep this cave is. i don't know when or if i will make it out. this may all seem very melodramatic to someone who has never been in a cave like this. i find myself staring blankly into the wall. i spend much time clicking the same links over and over not because i'm really interested in those links or am actually reading anything, but because that is all i'm capable of doing. at those times i often click around my journal, because it is familiar and that is somehow comforting. i know those around me think it's some sort of egotistical thing, but it's not. when i'm doing slightly better, but not all together well, i make icons and read livejournal or the news. i feel like i'm forcing those around me to take care of me. that's not fair. they all have their own lives and problems. i really not functional. i'm afraid i'm going to have to live in a residential program or something. that really scares the living shit out of me. i want out of the psych system, not deeper into it. i thought i was getting out. the psych system is another cave i'm in. when you're crazy like me you can bilocate in metaphors. but that's another story.

many of you may be shocked that i'm doing this badly in general. only those closest to me really have known. but, i've always liked how my journal was open and honest, so there you go, a heavy dose of the splatters of my mind. i'm not doing this for fun. i'm not doing this for attention. i'm not doing this so i'll get *hugs*. this just is where i'm at.

I am a very lucky person. Most people in my position would be on the streets or in a half-way home. But I have good friends and significant others that take care of me. For all the trouble I've been, they've stuck by me. Without them I would still be walking the dark roads every night with no home, and no hope. I am very lucky. I can't let my friends down. My friends who have put so much into me. They expect so little of me, and that little I must give them, for it is all I can. They expect me not to kill myself. I must not do that. They want me not to cut and purge. I must not do those things either. They expect me to be honest. And I must try my best to be. Other than that, they have no expectations of me. For that I am grateful, for at this point I am not well. I know that. I can not be counted upon. But those few things they rightfully expect of me, I will do. I will stay here, even if times I do not want to. I will stay here for them. Someday, maybe I can learn to stay here for me.