Treatment courts

Mental health courts

• The Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center, in collaboration with the NCSC, has produced an interdisciplinary curriculum, Developing a Mental Health Court, which brings together national experience and expertise to introduce key concepts for mental health courts and other collaborations between criminal justice and behavioral health systems. More information and course access.
• Mental Health Court Performance Measures (MHCPM) is a set of 14 performance measures that offers court managers and administrators a tool to monitor the performance of mental health courts.
• See below for current mental health court projects.

Current treatment court projects

Adult drug courts

Illinois: Statewide. Three-year project to assist with the development of problem-solving court curricula and training; assess data and identify needs based on best practices; review PSC self-assessment tool; conduct train-the-trainer sessions; and provide technical assistance.

Iowa: Statewide. Three-year project to develop statewide problem-solving court standards and coordinate and deliver a statewide training and technical assistance program to support Iowa’s specialty treatment courts (STCs) for the Iowa Judicial Branch (IJB).

Iowa: Statewide. Developing a performance management system for Adult Drug Courts consisting of a manual describing the performance measures, performance targets for the performance measures, and scenario-based performance management training to drug court stakeholders. Staff will also provide technical assistance to programmers designing reports to operationalize the performance management system.

Kentucky: Statewide. Implementing performance management system targets to inform strategic planning decisions and provide scenario-based training to enable the Adult Drug Courts to more effectively manage their local programs.

Maryland: Statewide. Developing a performance management system for adult drug courts consisting of a manual describing the performance measures, performance targets for the performance measures, and scenario-based performance management training to drug court stakeholders. Staff will also provide technical assistance to programmers to design reports to operationalize the performance management system.

Michigan: Ottawa County. Conducting a cost-benefit analysis of the 20th Circuit Court Adult Drug Treatment Court.

Nebraska: Statewide. Establishing standardized performance measures for Nebraska's DUI Courts, Family Drug Treatment Courts, Juvenile Drug Treatment Courts, Young Adult Courts, Reentry Courts, Mental Health Courts, and Veterans Treatment Courts; will identify data elements that need be collected to assess against the performance measures, support judicial branch in building performance measures into existing MIS, and train problem-solving court practitioners on new and existing performance measures.

New Mexico: Bernalillo County. Conducting a five-year project to evaluate grant-funded program enhancements of seven Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court treatment courts including Behavioral Health Court, Behavioral Health DWI Court, Community Veterans Treatment Court, Domestic Violence Treatment Education Program, DWI/Recovery Court, Urban Native American Healing to Wellness Court, and Substance Use and Treatment Options Program.

Virginia: Washington County. Conducting process and outcome evaluation services, including training and technical assistance for the Washington County Adult Drug Court.

West Virginia: Statewide. Three-year project to develop and deploy a self-assessment tool, review and revise WV ADC's performance measures, and produce a baseline process evaluation in the first year; develop new member training and provide technical assistance in year two; and revisit 12 sites to produce a baseline process and outcome evaluation in year three.

DUI / DWI court

New Mexico: Bernalillo County. Conducting a five-year project to evaluate grant-funded program enhancements of seven Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court treatment courts including Behavioral Health Court, Behavioral Health DWI Court, Community Veterans Treatment Court, Domestic Violence Treatment Education Program, DWI/Recovery Court, Urban Native American Healing to Wellness Court, and Substance Use and Treatment Options Program.

Family drug court

North Carolina: Lenoir County. Conducting a three-year project to evaluate grant-funded enhancements to Lenior County's Family Drug Courts to include a baseline process evaluation, a performance assessment/implementation report with recommendations for improvement, and a final outcome and impact evaluation report with final recommendations.

Juvenile drug court

Michigan: Statewide. Conducting a six-year project to evaluate and develop an improved program model for Michigan's Juvenile Drug Courts using evidence-based practices. Includes a baseline assessment of program operations, plan for implementation of recommendations with technical assistance, process evaluation and final outcome evaluation findings.

Mental health court

Illinois: Statewide. Assisting Illinois with developing a mental health task force to include the following: complete a statewide assessment of the court and community response to behavioral health and identify gaps and opportunities; identify statewide data sources and determine how data is effectively being shared; create a statewide vision of what a behavioral health continuum of care and diversion should look like in Illinois; and develop a plan to improve court and community responses.

Illinois: McLean County. Conducting a three-year project to assist McLean County Courts with an implementation assessment for the grant-funded program to establish a Comprehensive Assessment Team (CAT). NCSC will conduct an assessment of the methods and processes used to implement the planning and implementation guide and will assist with the development and implementation of performance measures or similar to assess in- and post-program outcomes.

New Mexico: Statewide. Conducting a three-year project to provide Sequential Intercept Mapping (SIM), provide technical assistance for the development and implementation of jurisdiction plans, develop selection criteria for pilot sites, develop performance measures, and evaluate pilot sites for a grant-funded program to assist statewide and local teams to identify persons with behavioral health needs and improve behavioral health responses with a focus on female offenders with mental illness and substance use disorders and specific challenges faced by rural and high-poverty communities.

Veterans treatment court

New Mexico: Bernalillo County. Conducting a five-year project to evaluate grant-funded program enhancements of seven Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court treatment courts including Behavioral Health Court, Behavioral Health DWI Court, Community Veterans Treatment Court, Domestic Violence Treatment Education Program, DWI/Recovery Court, Urban Native American Healing to Wellness Court, and Substance Use and Treatment Options Program.

Rhode Island: Statewide. Designing and implementing comprehensive process and outcome evaluations, annual performance assessments, and quarterly performance reports.

Past projects

Projects completed in 2021

Eugene, Oregon Community Court. Conducted a process evaluation, impact/outcome evaluation and cost-benefit analysis of the community court program in Eugene, Oregon.

New Mexico: Bernalillo County. Conducted a three-year project to assist with the development of performance measures and integrating them with data collection into a case management system to support evaluations. Conducting process and outcome evaluations of the DWI/Recovery Drug Court, Urban Native American Healing to Wellness Court, and Community Veterans Treatment Court Program; and providing a tool to allow the specialty courts to document baseline performance and assess their performance trends over time.

Puerto Rico: Developed and implemented a comprehensive evaluation of Puerto Rico's adult drug court programs.