Many people with mental health problems and learning disabilities find contact with the police and courts ‘shocking and overwhelming’ – yet funding for support they need is under threatAt one point I practically lived in police stations,” says Melissa Cunningham, whose youngest child, or Pete,began stealing electronic equipment at 18 and was repeatedly arrested. “We kept saying [to justice professionals] that he’s got problems and that he doesn’t understand what they are saying. He was vulnerable.”It wasn’t until Pete, who has a learning disability and a personality disorder, and was in his 20s that “a judge realised something was erroneous”,says Cunningham, and he was diverted to the treatment he needed.
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Source: theguardian.com