Many of the lawbreakers on the streets of Colorado communities suffer from substance addiction and mental illness. Those afflictions compound their criminal behavior.
Alongside the legal consequences they should face in the justice system, they also need treatment for what ails them. It’s their only hope, once taken into custody, for eventually reintegrating into society successfully and, sometimes, for recovering mental competency simply to face trial.
But whatever care they receive must never take priority over the need to protect the public. The public’s safety is paramount. That’s why criminal convicts with substance-abuse or mental-health needs, as well as dangerous suspects with those issues, must be confined — whether behind bars or in a secure, alternative program…