CIT International Conference June 1-3, 2010 San Antonio
LAW ENFORCEMENT
Without adequate training and access to community-based mental health resources, law enforcement officers face tremendous obstacles in responding to people with mental illness. This section identifies resources for local law enforcement agencies looking to address mental health issues.
• A GAINS Center Guide for Implementing Police-Based Diversion Programs for People with Mental Illness: Summarizes what law enforcement agencies are doing across the country to improve their responses to people with mental illness and explores how these agencies have overcome barriers to create and maintain effective programs by collaborating with the mental health community.
http://gainscenter.samhsa.gov/pdfs/jail_diversion/PERF.pdf
• Consensus Project Report Recommendations: Offers detailed recommendations, endorsed by leaders representing law enforcement and mental health systems across the country, to help policymakers and practitioners improve outcomes of law enforcement encounters with people with mental illness.
http://consensusproject.org/topics/toc/ch-II
• Improving Responses to People with Mental Illnesses – The Essential Elements of a Specialized Law Enforcement-Based Program: Describes the 10 important program elements that jurisdictions should consider when planning, implementing or enhancing a specialized law enforcement–based response.
http://consensusproject.org/downloads/le-essentialelements.pdf
• Improving Responses to People with Mental Illnesses – Strategies for Effective Law Enforcement Training: Reviews common challenges to developing training for officers' interactions involving people with mental illnesses, and synthesizes the key lessons learned by jurisdictions that have implemented recruit or in-service programs. Discusses which individuals can best serve as trainers, how they can be identified, what preparation and support they require, what teaching techniques are most effective, and how planners can design training to improve outcomes from these encounters.
http://consensusproject.org/downloads/le-trgstrategies.pdf
• Law Enforcement/Mental Health Partnership Program: Describes a Consensus Project national initiative to provide resources for law enforcement leaders and their community partners to develop and enhance law enforcement/mental health programs. (Products are currently in development).
http://www.consensusproject.org/downloads/Lawenforcementonepager.pdf
• Navigating the Mental Health Maze – A Guide for Criminal Justice Personnel: Provides a crash course for criminal justice professionals whose understanding of mental illness and the mental health system may be limited.
http://consensusproject.org/mhcp/Navigating-MHC-Maze.pdf
• Online Program Profiles of Specialized Law Enforcement-Based Responses: Allows users to search law enforcement-based response programs in other communities across the country, and post questions directly to representatives of these programs.
http://consensusproject.org/programs
COURTS
People with mental illness appear repeatedly before judges and cycle in and out of jail for low-level crimes which are often the result of untreated mental illness. This section identifies resources for mental health courts or other court-based initiative targeting defendants with a mental illness.
• A Guide to Collecting Mental Health Court Outcome Data: Describes practical strategies for collecting data and evaluating the effectiveness of mental health courts. Written for mental health court practitioners and policymakers who want to measure the impact of court-based programs.
• A Guide to Mental Health Court Design and Implementation: Explains critical issues such as determining whether to establish a mental health court, defining the target population, ensuring confidentiality, sustaining the court, and other key considerations.
• A Guide to the Role of Crime Victims in Mental Health Courts: Details how the nontraditional operations of mental health courts contribute to limited victims’ rights policies. The guide outlines how standard rights adhered to in these proceedings can be adapted for mental health court operations.
• Improving Responses to People with Mental Illnesses – Essential Elements of a Mental Health Court: Outlines 10 elements essential to mental health court design and implementation and provides background on why each element is important and how courts can adhere to it.
• Judges Leadership Initiative (JLI): The JLI's mission is to support and enhance the efforts of judges who have already taken leadership roles on criminal justice/mental health issues, and promote leadership among more judges to address the overrepresentation of people with mental illnesses in the criminal justice system. The JLI provides resources designed to help adult criminal court judges improve their courts' responses to people with mental illnesses and encourage systemic change in the criminal justice and mental health systems.
http://consensusproject.org/JLI
• A Judges' Primer on Mental Illness, Addictive Disorders, Co-occurring Disorders, and Integrated Treatment: A one-page reference, written for judges, on mental illness, addictive disorders, co-occurring disorders, and integrated treatment.
http://consensusproject.org/downloads/judges-primer.pdf
• Justice, Treatment, and Cost – An Evaluation of the Fiscal Impact of Allegheny County Mental Health Court: Special courts that sentence people with mental illnesses who are convicted of misdemeanors and low-level felonies to treatment instead of jail have the potential to save taxpayers money, according to a RAND Corporation study conducted for the Council of State Governments Justice Center.
http://www.rand.org/pubs/technical_reports/TR439
• Mental Health Courts – A Primer for Policymakers and Practitioners: Presents an overview and history of mental health courts. It describes mental health courts’ goals and processes, how they differ from drug courts, research findings about their effectiveness, and resources for jurisdictions interested in starting a program.
http://consensusproject.org/mhcp/mhc-primer.pdf
• Navigating the Mental Health Maze – A Guide for Criminal Justice Personnel: Provides a crash course for criminal justice professionals whose understanding of mental illness and the mental health system may be limited.
http://consensusproject.org/mhcp/Navigating-MHC-Maze.pdf
• Online Program Profiles of Mental Health Courts and Other Court-Based Programs: Allows users to search through court-based programs and post questions directly to representatives of these programs.
http://consensusproject.org/programs
• Transforming Florida’s Mental Health System: Final report of the Mental Health Subcommittee of the Supreme Court of Florida. Includes detailed planning, leadership, financing, and service development recommendations to improve Florida’s public mental health system and prevent unnecessary justice system involvement.
http://www.floridasupremecourt.org/pub_info/documents/11-14-2007_Mental_Health_Report.pdf
CORRECTIONS
The number of people with mental illness who are in prison or jail, or under probation or parole supervision, has increased dramatically in recent years. This section identifies resources for initiatives targeting people with mental illness upon their admission to jail or prison, while they are incarcerated, and after they are released to the community to the supervision of probation and/or parole.
• Corrections/Mental Health Case Studies: Offers detailed and frank discussion of the successes and setbacks that corrections and mental health leaders in Kansas and Orange County, Florida faced as they worked together to improve the response to people with mental illnesses transitioning from jail or prison to the community.
http://consensusproject.org/updates/features/nic-case-study
• Collaboration Assessment Tool: Enables leaders in corrections or mental health organizations to assess their current level of collaboration and chart a course for improving collaboration in four categories: knowledge base, systems, services, and resources. consensusproject.org/assessment
• Consensus Project Report Recommendations: Offers detailed recommendations, endorsed by leaders representing jail, prison, community correction, and mental health systems across the country, to help policymakers and practitioners improve corrections-based responses to people with mental illness.
http://consensusproject.org/the_report/toc/ch-IV
• Re-Entry Policy Council Report Recommendations: Offers detailed recommendations for improving the likelihood of successful re-entry among adults with mental illness released from prison and jail.
http://www.reentrypolicy.org/reentry/Ch_B_Prison_and_Jail.aspx
• Navigating the Mental Health Maze: A Guide for Criminal Justice Personnel: Provides a crash course for criminal justice professionals whose understanding of mental illness and the mental health system may be limited.
http://consensusproject.org/mhcp/Navigating-MHC-Maze.pdf
• SSI/SSA and Medicaid: Provides background, relevant research, and case studies on promptly connecting people released from prison and jail, including those with mental illness, with Medicaid and other federal benefits.
http://www.reentrypolicy.org/reentry/Access_to_Federal_Benefits.aspx
• Online Program Profiles of Corrections/Mental Health Programs: Allows users to search through corrections/mental health programs in the following areas and post questions directly to representatives of these programs.
http://consensusproject.org/programs
MENTAL HEALTH ADVOCACY
In communities across the country, mental health advocates have been a driving force for change in improving responses to people with mental illness involved in the criminal justice system. But while advocates in these communities may be familiar with how the lives of individuals with mental illness in the criminal justice systems can be impacted, they may be less familiar with how to engage potential partners in these systems. The resource in this section provides strategies for advocates to reach out to representatives from criminal justice / mental health systems looking to address these issues.
The Advocacy Handbook: Recommends strategies to mental health advocates who want to improve outcomes for people with mental illness involved in the criminal justice system and are seeking to engage and focus policymakers and leaders in the criminal justice system.
http://consensusproject.org/advocacy
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
Council of State Governments – Criminal Justice/Mental Health Consensus Project:
http://consensusproject.org/
Council of State Governments – Criminal Justice/Mental Health Information Network:
http://www.cjmh-infonet.org/
Council of State Governments – Re-Entry Policy Council:
http://www.reentrypolicy.org/reentry/default.aspx
Criminal Justice, Mental Health, and Substance Abuse Technical Assistance Center (TA Center) at the Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute (FMHI), University of South Florida: http://www.floridatac.org/
Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF): http://www.myflorida.com/cf_web
Florida Partners in Crisis (PIC): http://www.flpic.org/
Florida Substance Abuse and Mental Health Corporation: http://samhcorp.org/
Florida’s Children First (FCF): http://floridaschildrenfirst.org/
Mental Health Consumer Providers – A Guide for Clinical Staff: http://www.rand.org/pubs/technical_reports/TR584/
Miami-Dade County Grand Jury Report – Mental Illness and the Criminal Justice System: A Recipe for Disaster/A Prescription for Improvement: http://miamisao.com/publications/grand_jury/2000s/gj2004s.pdf
Miami-Dade County Grand Jury Report – Shifting the Focus On Treating Mental Illness: A Common “Cents” Approach: http://miamisao.com/publications/grand_jury/2000s/gj2007f.pdf
Miami-Dade County Mayor’s Mental Health Task Force – Final Report: http://www.miamidade.gov/mayor/library/03.29.07-Miami-Dade-County-MMHTF-Final-Report.pdf
National Alliance on Mental Illness: http://www.nami.org/
National GAINS Center /TAPA Center for Jail Diversion: http://gainscenter.samhsa.gov/
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA): http://www.samhsa.gov/
- Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS): http://mentalhealth.samhsa.gov/cmhs
- Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT): http://csat.samhsa.gov/
- Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP): http://prevention.samhsa.gov/
SAMHSA’s National Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices (NREPP): http://nrepp.samhsa.gov/
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