Since January 2020, COVID-19 has ravaged the United States’ population physically, economically, and psychologically.  Caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (“COVID-19”), the pandemic simultaneously decimated the population, shuttered businesses, and traumatized those experiencing its effects.  In early 2021, just as the country believed that it had survived the worst of the pandemic, the Delta variant appeared, causing a surge of cases worse than the first.

Consequently, increased prevalence of mental, neurological, and substance use disorders already has and will continue to present the legal system with challenges of previously unknown proportions.  As mental health professionals substantiate and address the negative impacts of uncertainty, fear, isolation, and economic hardship, legal issues are multiplying. This symposium will explore a range of those legal issues and is intended to foster study and discussion of mental health and ways the legal system can improve it.