Martone said in the memo that "the existing infrastructure, without the addition of designated outpatient treatment providers, is unprepared to support this new civil commitment option."
Commissioner Jennifer Velez said DHS "will continue to work expeditiously to identify appropriate partners who can achieve the statutory obligations, in order to ensure full compliance, as appropriate." She did not say when the law, which was to have been rolled out over a period of three years, might be fully implemented.
Advocates for the law said delaying implementation was a mistake.
Sen. Richard J. Codey (D., Essex), a sponsor of the bill, which was signed into law by Gov. Jon S. Corzine a year ago, making New Jersey the 43d state in the country with laws for assisted outpatient treatment, said the delay would put patients, family members, and the general population at risk.
"The ability to give families the tools to protect loved ones, who due to mental disability are a threat to themselves and others, should be a priority not just for them, but for us all," said Codey, a longtime advocate on mental-health issues.
The Legislature was spurred to adopt the law after several incidences of violence. In 2002, 11-year-old Gregory Katsnelson of Evesham was stabbed to death by Ronald Pituch, a schizophrenic Medford resident who also had just stabbed his mother to death.
In August 2008, Ronald Weed, 43, of Galloway Township, after refusing treatment for paranoid schizophrenia, beat to death his mother and a 12-year-old niece. Loretta Largo is Weed's sister, so she lost her mother and a daughter in the episode; a second daughter suffered severe head injuries but survived.
