investigate Constitutional rights violations in state mental health law and programs.

State laws covering involuntary detention of suspected mentally ill people are abused to imprison people who have not committed a crime. The typical standard should be strict, citing specific clear evidence of a direct threat of violence to self or reasonably identifiable individuals, or evidence of grave disability interfering in care for basic needs. Instead states use the laws to punish people extrajudicially for their speech, roping them into a cycle of chemical dependency and social stigma. Programs and laws themselves need review, for instance California's WIC 5326.9, which places authority to initiate statutorily required investigation of violations into the hands of a liable party-- a block of due process. The state should not exploit and mistreat emotionally vulnerable people.