H.B. 5563, An Act Concerning Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Issues Impacting Veterans Involved in the Criminal Justice System

The ACLU-CT strongly encourages the legislature to support House Bill 5563 and to expand it to include training about all people in the criminal justice system living with mental health and PTSD issues.

As an organization that fights for the fair and equal treatment of all people involved in the criminal justice system, the ACLU-CT supports improving training for judges so that they may more fully understand the mental health issues people coming before them experience. The state should provide judges with all the information they need to make well-informed decisions regarding defendants and their cases. While we support providing judges with information related to mental health and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) issues that may impact veterans involved in the criminal justice system, we encourage the committee to expand the bill beyond veterans and to require training related to mental health and PTSD issues facing all people who are involved in the criminal justice system.