The Intersection of Mental Health and Homelessness in Policy Making.

Politicians and psychiatrists in California and Oregon are proposing changes to civil commitment laws to allow for more involuntary treatment of people with untreated addictions or mental illnesses who are stuck cycling between the streets, county jails, and state psychiatric hospitals. However, opponents fear a return to bygone policies of locking people up just for being sick. The shift is dividing liberals over the very meaning of compassion and which rights should take precedence: civil rights like freedom of movement and medical consent? Or the right to appropriate medical care in a crisis?