North Country Forum
Dr. Carney’s most recent posts are to be found here. He is in the process of compiling a complete archive of all articles he has written since his retirement from professional social work practice in 2010. All his blogs have as their focus issues pertaining to social justice; are generally placed in their historical context; and, ultimately, are subjected to in-depth analyses whose aim is to promote a full understanding of the issues being addressed.
New York State’s Assisted Out-Patient Treatment Program: Racial Myths & Other Stereotypes
New York State’s out-patient commitment program, termed Assisted Out-Patient Treatment (AOT), was instituted in 1999 to protect the general public from treatment non-compliant and presumably violent mental patients. Despite the relatively small number of treatment orders issued by the courts since the Program’s inception – little more than 10,000 – AOT has proved controversial, the object of lawsuits and the subject of contentious debate among stakeholders and the State’s legislators. A source of concern from the outset was the disproportionate number of AOT orders issued to African-Americans: an analysis contained in the evaluation...