The Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) provides leadership, funding, training, and technical assistance to states, local governments, and other justice and prevention agencies. BJA administered the Mental Health Courts Grant Program (MHCP) created by "America's Law Enforcement and Mental Health Project" (Public Law 106-515). The program funded 37 mental health court initiatives that provided continued judicial supervision and coordinated delivery of health and social support services to defendants with mental illnesses. The grant program also funded technical assistance to mental health court initiatives nationwide. BJA coordinated this initiative with the Jail Diversion Targeted Capacity Expansion Grant Program, an initiative of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).
BJA is currently funding technical assistance to mental health courts around the nation including the Mental Health Court Learning Sites, a program that enables peer-to-peer learning among mental health courts.
BJA also administers the Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program created by the "Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Act of 2004" (MIOTCRA: Public Law 108-414). The program will fund initiatives that increase public safety by facilitating collaboration among the criminal justice, juvenile justice, and mental health and substance abuse treatment systems to increase access to services for offenders with mental illness.
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