California’s Mental Health Diversion Programs Have Become a Criminal’s Paradise—And Lawmakers Are Finally Fighting Back

Criminals across California are openly bragging in jail phone calls about exploiting mental health diversion laws to dodge prison time—and they’re succeeding. What was sold as compassionate reform has morphed into exactly what critics warned it would be: a systematic get-out-of-jail-free card that’s putting violent offenders back on the streets while victims are left without justice.

Now, a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers has had enough.

State Senator Shannon Grove is spearheading Senate Bill 1373, legislation designed to slam the brakes on a 2018 “reform” that has become a case study in progressive overreach gone catastrophically wrong. The bill represents a rare moment of clarity in Sacramento—an acknowledgment that good intentions without proper safeguards create dangerous consequences for law-abiding Californians.

The Road to Hell, Paved With Progressive Intentions

Assembly Bill 1810, passed in 2018, allows defendants with mental disorders to enter diversion programs instead of facing traditional prosecution. Complete the program, and your charges disappear. Your arrest record? Sealed. Your criminal history? Wiped clean.

The promise was simple: help people with genuine mental health issues get treatment instead of incarceration for minor offenses.

The reality has been a nightmare.

“However well-intended this program was and might have been, in reality it did not come with enough guardrails and has become a get-out-of-jail-free card,” Grove declared at a Tuesday press conference, surrounded by law enforcement officials and fellow legislators who’ve witnessed the carnage firsthand.

Bodies in the Streets, Criminals Walking Free

The human cost of this failed experiment isn’t theoretical—it’s measured in blood.

Jordan Murray provides the perfect illustration. After being arrested for theft cases involving assaults, Murray was granted mental health diversion. One year later, he allegedly stabbed Carlos Romero to death in Sacramento County.

“There was space between the stabbing and the altercation. It was not a crime of passion,” explained Senator Roger Niello. “This is a perfect example of the unintended consequence of this bill and it absolutely has to be reformed.”

Then there’s Ramiro Ochoa Mendoza of Napa. Just three days—72 hours—after receiving immunity from prosecution under the mental health diversion program, he allegedly committed a brutal murder. He was later found incompetent to stand trial, adding insult to the injury of a system that released him in the first place.

The System Is Drowning—And So Are Victims

Democratic Assemblymember Maggy Krell, a former Sacramento County district attorney and co-author of the reform bill, dropped a bombshell: nearly half of all criminal cases in Sacramento now involve petitions for diversion.

Read that again. Half.

“All of us believe in mental health diversion, that it can be effective and some defendants should get a chance,” Krell acknowledged. “However, the floodgates have been open and some of the crimes where people are being diverted are too serious.”

The state lacks sufficient treatment placements for those who actually qualify for mental health services. So instead of helping people who need it, the system has become a rubber stamp for criminals gaming the system—and they know exactly what they’re doing.

Grove revealed that inmates are being recorded on jail phone calls discussing how to cite AB 1810 in their cases to avoid jail time entirely. This isn’t rehabilitation—it’s manipulation of a broken system by those who deserve punishment, not a free pass.

When Child Abusers Walk Without Consequences

Perhaps no case better illustrates the moral bankruptcy of the current system than that of Zack Scrivner, a former Kern County supervisor charged with felony child abuse last year.

Scrivner was accused of inappropriately touching one of his own children. Under the current mental health diversion scheme, he will avoid trial entirely and be funneled into a diversion program instead.

“He never had to enter a plea, never had to serve a day in jail, but after community services his record will be wiped clean and he could work in schools,” Grove stated with justified outrage.

A man accused of abusing his own child could theoretically work in schools. Let that sink in.

Real Reform With Real Teeth

SB 1373 doesn’t eliminate mental health diversion—it restores sanity to a system that has veered into dangerous absurdity.

The bill would require that a defendant’s mental disorder be diagnosed within five years of the charged offense, preventing criminals from suddenly “discovering” convenient mental health issues when facing charges.

It expands the list of disqualifying crimes to include attempted murder, kidnapping, carjacking, and human trafficking—violent felonies that should never have been eligible in the first place.

Most importantly, it would bar diversion for defendants with two prior felony convictions or a prior strike under California’s Three Strikes law. Repeat violent offenders shouldn’t get endless chances to game the system.

District Attorneys Are Demanding Change

San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins—no conservative firebrand—supports comprehensive reform of these laws, though she’s waiting to see final amendments before endorsing SB 1373 specifically.

“We have seen far too many serious and violent felonies make their way into mental health diversion, allowing dangerous people back on to our streets to reoffend,” Jenkins told The Post.

“Exclusions of certain crimes are a step forward and I support making changes, but again we are still going to have to push forward for full and comprehensive reform for public safety.”

When San Francisco’s district attorney is calling for tougher criminal justice measures, you know the situation has reached a breaking point.

The Progressive Experiment Has Failed—Again

This debacle follows a familiar pattern in California politics. Progressive lawmakers pass sweeping criminal justice “reforms” with soaring rhetoric about compassion and second chances. The laws pass with minimal scrutiny. The consequences are immediate and severe. And then, after bodies pile up and communities are terrorized, lawmakers act shocked that criminals would exploit loopholes they created.

Grove’s bill benefits from bipartisan support, including Democratic Senator Susan Rubio. That’s because the failures of AB 1810 aren’t partisan talking points—they’re documented realities that transcend political ideology.

Victims Deserve Better

“Perpetrators are returning to communities without protections and reoffending habitually,” Grove noted. “Victims are left alone with no resources, no justice and no punishment for the perpetrator.”

This is the real scandal. While California’s progressive elite congratulate themselves for their compassion toward criminals, actual victims—people who’ve been assaulted, robbed, and traumatized—are abandoned by a system that prioritizes offender convenience over public safety.

Mental health treatment is important. Addressing the root causes of crime has value. But not at the expense of justice, accountability, and community safety.

The Path Forward

SB 1373 represents a course correction, not a reversal. It maintains mental health diversion for those who genuinely need it while closing the loopholes that have transformed a treatment program into a criminal’s escape hatch.

The question now is whether California’s Democratic supermajority will acknowledge their mistake and support these common-sense reforms—or whether ideology will once again trump reality.

The bipartisan coalition behind this bill suggests there’s hope. Law enforcement backs it. Prosecutors support it. Victims’ advocates are demanding it.

The only people who should oppose these reforms are those more concerned with appearing compassionate than actually protecting Californians. And after years of failed experiments in criminal justice reform, that distinction has never been clearer.

It’s time to close the loopholes, protect the public, and restore accountability to California’s justice system. Anything less is a betrayal of every victim who’s suffered because Sacramento valued criminal convenience over community safety.