Programs: Mental Health Courts Program

Bureau of Justice Assistance - Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice - Solutions for Safer Communities

Public Safety Officers' Benefits Program

Mental Health Courts Program

NEW! Improving Responses to People with Mental Illnesses: The Essential Elements of a Mental Health Court

Overview:
The Bureau of Justice Assistance, in coordination with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, administers the Mental Health Courts Program. This program funds projects that seek to mobilize communities to implement innovative, collaborative efforts that bring systemwide improvements to the way the needs of adult offenders with mental disabilities or illnesses are addressed.

Mental health courts are a recent phenomenon and require collaboration and consideration from practitioners in both the criminal justice and mental health fields. Mental health courts typically involve judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys, and other court personnel who have expressed an interest in or possess particular mental health expertise. The courts generally deal with nonviolent offenders who have been diagnosed with a mental illness or co-occurring mental health and substance abuse disorders. Today, more than 150 of these courts exist, and more are being planned.

The goal of BJA's Mental Health Court grant program is to decrease the frequency of clients' contacts with the criminal justice system by providing courts with resources to improve clients' social functioning and link them to employment, housing, treatment, and support services.

BJA funds projects that emphasize:

Continuing judicial supervision—including periodic review—over preliminarily qualified offenders with mental illness, mental retardation, or co-occurring mental illness and substance abuse disorders who are charged with misdemeanors and/or nonviolent offenses.
The coordinated delivery of services, which includes:
- Specialized training of criminal justice personnel to identify and address the unique needs of offenders who are mentally ill or mentally retarded.
- Voluntary outpatient or inpatient mental health treatment, in the least restrictive manner appropriate as determined by the court, that carries with it the possibility of dismissal of charges or reduced sentencing on successful completion of treatment.
- Centralized case management involving the consolidation of cases that involve mentally ill or mentally disabled defendants (including probation violations) and the coordination of all mental health treatment plans and social services, including life skills training, placement, health care, and relapse prevention for each participant who requires such services.
- Continuing supervision of treatment plan compliance for a term not to exceed the maximum allowable sentence or probation for the charged or relevant offense and, to the extent practicable, continuity of psychiatric care at the end of the supervised period.

BJA funds a number of Mental Health Courts around the nation. Click here for a listing.

Legislation: The Mental Health Courts Program was created by "America's Law Enforcement and Mental Health Project" (Public Law 106-515). Support also comes through the Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Act of 2004 (MIOTCRA) (Public Law 108-414).

Technical Assistance:
The Council of State Governments (CSG), coordinator of the Criminal Justice/Mental Health Consensus Project, will continue to provide technical assistance to BJA Mental Health Court Program grantees planning, implementing, evaluating, and sustaining their Mental Health Courts. In addition, they will provide similar assistance to nongrantee mental health courts and to other court-based initiatives to improve the response to people with mental illness in the criminal justice system. The focus of this year's technical assistance will be on helping court-based initiatives fully integrate their activities with other similar programs in the jurisdiction. To achieve this goal, CSG will make available the following forms of support:

Convene a national conference for court-based programs to improve the response to people with mental illness including mental health courts.
Maintain a web site dedicated to mental health courts, which also serves as a clearinghouse of information for anyone working in the criminal justice system seeking to improve the response to people with mental illness in the justice system.
Provide onsite and offsite technical assistance to grantees and nongrantees.
Develop a network of demonstration mental health courts, which will provide peer-to-peer support for courts seeking to improve their response to this population.
Coordinate technical assistance efforts with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and its TAPA and GAINS Centers for technical assistance to provide assistance on mental health services and jail diversion strategies. This includes support for the Judges Leadership Initiative, which seeks to build leadership in the judiciary to effectively address the community and consumer needs of those with mental illness in the criminal justice system.
Develop and disseminate a written product identifying and explaining the essential elements of a mental health court.
To develop written publications on key issues related to justice and mental health collaboration. Current publications include: What Is a Mental Health Court? (under development); Navigating the Mental Health Maze; and A Guide to Collecting Mental Health Court Outcome Data.

For more information on technical assistance available under this program, visit the BJA Mental Health Courts Program page at www.consensusproject.org and/or register for the Consensus Project e-newsletter.

Research and Evaluation:
National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors Research Institute (NRI)

Related Publications/Information:
Emerging Judicial Strategies for the Mentally Ill in the Criminal Caseload: Mental Health Courts in Fort Lauderdale, Seattle, San Bernardino, and Anchorage (HTML, PDF, or ASCII)
A Guide to Collecting Mental Health Court Outcome Data
A Guide to Mental Health Court Design and Implementation
Memphis, Tennessee, Police Department's Crisis Intervention Team (PDF or ASCII)
"Mental Health Courts and Beyond" Conference Resources (June 2005)
Mental Health Courts National Shapshot
Mental Health Courts Program Fact Sheet
Mental Health Courts Program: Learning Sites Initiative
Mental Health Policy Briefs
Navigating the Mental Health Maze
Strategies for Court Collaboration with Service Communities Program Brief, November, 2003
People with Mental Illness

Mental Health Courts Program (FY 2006 Call for Concept Papers)

Contact Information:
Ruby Qazilbash
Senior Policy Advisor for Substance Abuse and Mental Health
Bureau of Justice Assistance
810 Seventh Street NW.
Washington, DC 20531
Phone: (202) 305-6982
Fax: (202) 305-2543
E-mail: Ruby.Qazilbash@usdoj.gov

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