New York mayor plans to hospitalize mentally ill people involuntarily

The New York City mayor, Eric Adams, calls directive an attempt to clear up ‘gray area where policy, law and accountability have not been clear.’ Photograph: Kena Betancur/AFP/Getty Images

The mayor of New York City announced on Tuesday that he is ordering police and emergency services to more aggressively hospitalize those with mental illness who are on the streets, even if the hospitalization is involuntary and they pose no threat to other people.

Mayor Eric Adams’ directive would give outreach workers, city hospitals and first responders, including police, discretion to forcibly hospitalize anyone they deem as not “meeting their basic human needs, causing them to be a danger to themselves”, Adams told a news conference.