Welcome to the kafka center for criminal justice reform

 The Kafka center is devoted to criminal justice reform, especially as it applies to those with mental illnesses. For a vast majority of mentally ill individuals and their loved ones, the best way to get help during an emergency is calling the 911 system, which is shared between the police, the fire department, and the medical emergency personnel. Typically, in the case of a mental health emergency, the first point of contact are the law-enforcement personnel, who depending on the cooperation they receive from the ill person, end up arresting the mentally ill.  Moreover, the presumption of innocence, guaranteed by the US constitution is lost as soon as someone is suspected of a crime and arrested. Arrested individuals are forced to suffer inhumane treatments, like being chained and shackled and endure humiliating living conditions before they are arraigned by the judicial system. After arraignment, if the individuals are unable to pay their bails, they are further forced to endure the inhuman conditions in county jails till a trial occurs. These pretrial detentions can last as long as 200 days. Additionally, the US criminal justice system is notorious for over-charging individuals with suspected crimes. Therefore, it is in the best interest of the charged individuals to plead guilty to a crime they may not even have committed. So, at the end, instead of providing help to individuals who may need it the most, the US criminal justice system ends up criminalizing mental illness. The mission of the Kafka center is to decriminalize mental illness and to restore the presumption of innocence as a cornerstone of the US justice system.