A 14-year-old is dead, and Democrats in Albany are to blame

On Thursday, a judge deemed Bronx resident Waldo Mejia unfit to stand trial and ordered him into psychiatric treatment.His alleged crime is shocking, even by the depraved standards of mental health mayhem in New York.According to police, 14-year-old Caleb Rijos was walking to school one morning this past January when Mejia, unprovoked, fatally stabbed Rijos in the chest.Stop me if you’ve heard this one before.

An innocent victim is murdered, a family permanently traumatized, and a perpetrator who should have been the responsibility of the mental health system becomes entrusted to the criminal justice system instead.During this year’s state budget cycle, legislators have been weighing Mayor Adams’ proposal, put forth by Gov.Hochul, to expand access to involuntary psychiatric care.According to a poll published earlier this week by The Association for a Better New York, 88% of New Yorkers support this change.

Democrats actually favor it at a higher rate (90%) than Republicans (81%).Passage remains doubtful, though.Back in January, just a few days after Caleb Rijos’ stabbing, state Sen.Samra Brouk (D-Rochester), chair of the Senate Mental Health Committee, asserted, “I will continue to oppose efforts to put people into forced treatment or forced detention through an expansion of involuntary commitment because we know coerced treatment does not work.”There’s not been much movement since.

The backing of the mayor and governor, overwhelming support of the public, and the horrific death of a schoolchild aren’t enough.In their budget proposals, released last week, both houses of the state Legislature rejected Hochul’s proposal to loosen involuntary treatment standards. Albany progressives remain dug in on the notion that more money for voluntary community services cures all.Republicans must bear some blame for America’s mental health dysfunction, most notably in their unwillingness to spend more on programs to benefit the seriously mentally ill...