RAND Study Finds Mental Health Courts Have the Potential to Save Taxpayers Money
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.
"Justice, Treatment, and Cost: An Evaluation of the Fiscal Impact of Allegheny County Mental Health Court," was funded by the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare and the Staunton Farm Foundation. The study issued on Thursday by RAND, a nonprofit research organization, is the first to look at the fiscal impact of a mental health court anywhere in the United States.
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Legislative Round-Up:
State Governments Tackle Mental Health and Criminal Justice Issues
State governments across the country are engaged in a wide range of legislative and budgetary efforts to improve the response to individuals with mental illnesses in contact with--or are at risk of contact with--the criminal justice system. Council of State Governments Justice Center (Justice Center) staff have identified a sampling of diverse state-level approaches to addressing criminal justice/mental health issues that have been signed into law over the past two years.
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Congressional Victim's Rights Caucus Organizes Briefing on Violence Against Women with Mental Illness
The Congressional Victim's Rights Caucus recently hosted its first ever staff briefing on violence against women with mental illness. Speakers at the briefing, held February 5, 2007 in Washington, D.C., included Delaware State Senator Liane Sorenson, member of the Council of State Governments Justice Center Charter; Trudy Gregorie, staff member of Justice Solutions, a victim's rights research non-profit; and Gwendolyn Skinner, Director of the Georgia Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Addictive Diseases.
Speakers at the briefing provided an overview of the unique challenges that practitioners within criminal justice, mental health, and victim service fields in identifying women with mental illness who have been victimized and providing them with appropriate referrals. All emphasized the critical importance of establishing and then institutionalizing collaboration among representatives from these diverse fields to improve services to these women.
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Updates to the Consensus Project Website
Justice Center staff have recently updated the Consensus Project website to make information more easily accessible and navigable. Updates to the site include the following:
- A new left-hand navigation bar with reorganized content groups
- A press room for easier media access to Consensus Project materials
- More prominent links to the Council of State Governments Justice Center website and related projects, including the Re-Entry Policy Council and Justice Reinvestment Initiative
This round of changes to the site is the first in a series of improvements staff plan to implement in the coming months. Please contact Consensus Project website editors with any questions regarding these updates or suggestions for additional site improvements.
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Announcements
Governor of Oklahoma Announces Plan to Increase Support of Drug Courts, Mental Health Courts, Substance Abuse Treatment, and Inmate Re-Entry Programs
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Criminal Justice and Mental Health in the News
Articles from the Consensus Project homepage - from newspapers around the country - covering issues at the intersection of mental health and criminal justice are posted below. To access a complete list of media coverage, visit the media coverage page.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (PA) - Alternatives to jail touted for mentally ill offenders
3/2/07 - "It took Allegheny County President Judge Joseph James 30 years to prove his hunch was right: It is less expensive to treat mentally ill criminals involved in minor crimes than it is to jail them."
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (PA) - Allegheny County Mental Health Court lauded
3/2/07 - "An independent study of Allegheny County Mental Health Court found that the program reduces recidivism and saves the county money, court officials said Thursday."
New York Times - Deaths in Custody: Excited Delirium or Excessive Force?
2/27/07 - "Psychologists, medical examiners, and perhaps most pointedly, law enforcement officers insist that [excited delirium is] a real and discrete condition, but civil rights advocates are dubious about what they say is an increasing reliance on the diagnosis."
Bangor Daily News (ME) - Maine police embrace intervention training as a way to avoid force
2/24/07 - "CIT officers take the time to get to know the person, and in doing so they are able to comfort and console the individual. This sometimes put officers in a position that does not fit the picture of hard-nosed police."
News-Leader (MO)- Missouri chosen for mental illness initiative
2/23/07- The Council of State Governments Justice Center announced Thursday that Missouri is one of seven states selected to participate in the Chief Justices' Criminal Justice/Mental Health Leadership Initiative, a national project designed to help state supreme court chief justices guide efforts in their states to respond better to people with mental illnesses in the criminal justice system.
The Boston Globe (MA)- State is faulted over rise in inmate suicides: Review finds lack of training, monitoring.
2/21/2007- An independent study of the state prison system, requested by the Department of Correction, has found serious shortcomings in the state's handling of inmates who are at risk of committing suicide.
KTTC TV (MN) - CIT Training
2/19/07 - "Members of law enforcement work in crisis situations on a day to day basis. Now, one type of training is showing officers the appropriate way to help people with mental illnesses."
American Statesman (TX) - Texas selected for study of mental health illnesses in state prisons
2/19/07 - "Facing a growing number of prisoners who have mental health diseases, Texas is one of seven states selected to participate in a national study designed to find new ways to treat those offenders without just locking them up."
The Weekly (GA)- Georgia Supreme Court chosen for national project on Criminal Justice and Mental Health Issues: Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears to Lead Statewide Task Force
2/15/07- The Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center announced that the Georgia State Supreme Court has been selected to participate in the Chief Justices' Criminal Justice/Mental Health Leadership Initiative.
Billings Gazette (MT) - Special court now in full operation
2/12/07 - "The state's lone court specifically for mentally ill people accused of crimes is now in full operation here, after a startup that began with initial funding in 2003."
The Blade Plus (GA) - State Director to Tackle Violence Against Women with Mental Illness
2/5/07 - "In Georgia, and the rest of the country, violence against women is an urgent, criminal and public health problem."
Philadelphia Daily News (PA) - First police Crisis Team to graduate
2/1/07 - "Ultimately, police officials say 20 to 25 percent of uniformed patrol cops from East Division will complete a four-day training session that will teach them techniques to help relieve tense situations involving police and people who have mental illnesses."
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