Implementation of the National Judicial Task Force to Examine State Courts' Response to Mental Illness Report and Recommendations
The Task Force made a number of important findings with corresponding recommendations supported by over 100 resources for courts and our partner stakeholders. Each Behavioral Health Alerts revisits an original Task Force resource or a new resource that supports a Task Force recommendation.
First Appearance and Pretrial Practices Make use of pretrial risk and needs assessments to expedite pretrial release decisions and conditions of release within 24-48 hours of justice system contact. Provide proactive case management to ensure individuals are screened for risk and needs as early as possible in the case process, including monitoring for people in frequent contact with the justice system, and divert when possible. Ensure that first appearances are meaningful events and early efforts are made to connect individuals with community services providers and available services. Pretrial release decisions regarding those with behavioral health needs must be timely. Incarceration, even for a short period of time can have disproportionately negative impacts on individuals with behavioral health needs.
Task Force Recommendations Implementation - Resources and News
Supreme Court Backs Non-violent Offenders Getting Treatment Instead of Jail The Wyoming Supreme Court is supporting a pilot Casper Municipal Court program to get non-violent offenders mental help instead of going to jail. The program can save the city money and become a model for the rest of the state.
Research and Resources
Community Supervision Within the Treatment Court Model: Practice Guidelines for the Field These practice guidelines are designed to provide treatment court teams, community supervision officers (CSOs), and the community supervision agency with a deep understanding of the role and function of the CSO within the treatment court team. The guidelines are informed by the All Rise Adult Treatment Court Best Practice Standards and the American Probation and Parole Association National Standards for Community Supervision, and they reflect best practices in the field. The guidelines address three areas: research findings related to each guideline, implementation tips and action steps to ensure effective practices, and examples from the field.
Justice Data Snapshots Criminal justice trends vary by state, now more than ever. Decisionmakers need up-to-date, state-specific data to navigate today’s challenges. These data snapshots pull together the most recent data for each state on crime, arrests, behavioral health, workforce, recidivism, and more in one place. Select your state from the map or dropdown menu to download your state’s snapshot, share with others, and request a briefing from experts on criminal justice data to help state leaders put your state’s trends in context.
Addressing Legal Resolution to Homelessness in the Context of Contemporary Moral Philosophy Homelessness remains a national crisis in the United States. In the post-COVID-19 world, the nation faces a sharp increase in evictions and foreclosures, similar to what was seen after the 2008 financial collapse. This has led to an increase in homelessness, a rise which disproportionately impacts communities of color. Traditional moral philosophy cannot establish the radical obligation to the other needed to address the homelessness crisis. This Article proposes ways to mitigate homelessness through legal advocacy and policy reforms. In so doing, this Article engages with the radical obligation to the other, as expressed in contemporary moral philosophy.
Expanding Mental Health Courts in Illinois: How the Illinois Mental Health Court Treatment Act Is Not as Inclusive as It May Appear This Note examines in its first section a brief introduction of how mental health courts came to be and some of the benefits. The second section dives into the background and framework of mental health courts in Illinois, including subsections first explaining why specific counties need mental health courts, next providing a solution to the problem, and finally proposing a change in the text. This third section also analyzes the costs of implementing mental health courts in Illinois, and how these concerns are not warranted based on further benefits. The fourth section explains why the Mental Health Court Treatment Act should not exclude violent offenders from participating. The last section briefly concludes these arguments and pleads for a change to the Mental Health Court Treatment Act. The Illinois General Assembly must make a change in the statute to implement greater access to mental health courts by creating them in each county or judicial circuit. Further, the Illinois General Assembly must not exclude violent criminals from participation in mental health courts.
Federal Notices of Funding Opportunity The table below identifies open Federal Notices of Funding Opportunity (NOFOs). It includes all the information you need to prepare your applications, including deadlines, links to preparation webinars, and links to apply. Please check program eligibility before applying. Below the table you will find links to more details on grant-writing webinars and individual webpages with more details for each NOFO. Check back often; we will make regular updates as webinar recordings become available.
Notice for AOT Program Managers: Invitation to Inaugural Peer Support Web Chat Announcing the launch of a new and valuable resource now available through the AOTLN — the Peer Support Web Chat! This addition to other collaborator-specific web chats will provide a space for peer support specialists working in AOT programs to discuss best practices, exchange engagement strategies, and network with other peers. Whether you have been working as a peer specialist in AOT for a long time or a short time, this group is for you. Peers interested in learning more about AOT are welcome.
Data Dives: Data Governance - Analytic Tools Register for NCSC’s Data Dives Webinar Series, where emerging data trends and topics shaping state courts are explored. In this session, record linkage will be discussed. Record linkage is an innovative solution to a common data governance challenge: finding and removing duplicate entries across various data sources. This webinar explores applications and models for record linkage and how state courts can approach this common challenge and implement solutions.
CSG Justice Briefing CSG Justice Center tackles pathways to secure housing; North Carolina releases Reentry 2030 progress report; addressing juvenile justice reform; and more.
In the News
Missourians Waiting in Jail for Court-Ordered Mental Health Care Reaches All-Time High For nearly a year and a half, a woman has been languishing in Greene County jail, waiting to be transferred to a state mental health facility. The woman was charged with a misdemeanor, found incompetent to stand trial and ordered by the court into state-run psychiatric treatment, Greene County Sheriff Jim Arnott told The Independent. She’s been waiting there for a Missouri Department of Mental Health bed to open up for almost 450 days, Arnott said. Had she been convicted of the misdemeanor, Arnott said, the maximum sentence would have been 1 year. She would have gotten out in November. There are 418 Missourians across the state on a waiting list for a mental health bed, up from around 300 at this time last year.
Criminal Case Dismissed Due to State Hospital Delays; Other Cases Remain In Limbo Waiting for Mental Health Evaluation, Treatment Backlogs at the Montana State Hospital and their impact on criminal prosecutions was front and center in Judge John Parker’s courtroom on Jan. 29. A case on his docket was Gregory LaPlant who has been sitting in the Cascade County Adult Detention Center since July despite court orders that he be admitted to the state hospital for a mental health evaluation within 90 days. “Rather than hear why it can’t be, I’ve got to grant [LaPlant] the relief he’s entitled to,” and that it doesn’t matter how serious the crimes are, judges are left to dismiss cases because of the delays. “It’s an absolute human tragedy,” Parker said.
Bill Addressing How Courts Deal With Criminal Competency Moves Forward in Committee The bill seeks to change what happens to many New Mexico criminal suspects facing mental competency issues today. They often end up in and out of jail with judges dismissing cases against those found incompetent. “There’s no silver bullet, we have to be working multiple paths when we’re dealing with individuals with serious mental health issues,” said Rep. Christine Chandler, (D-Los Alamos). The bill expands the evaluation process to allow judges to make a case-by-case review for suspects accused of certain serious crimes. The courts would not only determine if someone is competent but also if they’re dangerous. Based on those findings, a judge could order civil commitment or assisted outpatient treatment with the hope they can one day stand trial. “I think we are improving safety for the public because we are getting more people into treatment who would otherwise not be seeking it because we’re actually directing them into treatment,” said Rep. Chandler.
Freshman Lawmakers Vote Down Court Program for Offenders With Mental Illness Five freshman legislators on the Wyoming House Judiciary Committee voted down a bill Wednesday that would have given courts an option to send people who commit minor crimes into mental health treatment before they’re convicted. The bill proposed to expand the state’s Court Supervised Treatment Program Act, or drug court, to include a diversion court provision, which would be optional. It would have authorized courts to offer mental health treatment programs for people who have been charged with minor crimes, Elisa Butler, Wyoming State Courts Administrator, told the committee during its Wednesday hearing. Allen Thompson, Executive Director of the Wyoming Association of Sheriffs and Chiefs of Police, said his group backs the diversion program, because it would help simplify jail populations and prevent jail-deputy burnout. Rep Tom Kelly, R-Sheridan, said he has concerns about mental illness, including in his own community. But, he said, “I fear the unintended consequences of people manipulating the system.” He said he’s concerned people may try to avoid conviction or gain other benefits after “simply doing an internet search” on what to say to get a mental illness diagnosis. It could be a “newfound loophole,” Kelly said.
Lawmakers Praise Administrative Office of the Courts for Progress on Assisted Outpatient Treatment The Administrative Office of the Courts drew praise from lawmakers Thursday for the progress it has made in implementing pilot projects designed to expand the availability of involuntary mental health treatment. During last year’s special session, the Legislature ignored much of Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s legislative agenda, which included changes to the state’s criminal competency and civil commitment statutes. But lawmakers did appropriate $3 million for the courts to implement so-called assisted outpatient treatment — in a nutshell, court-ordered mental health treatment for adults with a mental disorder who have a history of not complying with voluntary treatment — in three judicial districts and support an already-existing program in the 4th Judicial District.
Pennsylvania Courts Focus Efforts to Combat Growing Behavioral Health Crisis With the start of the new year, Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Kevin Dougherty and the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts are redoubling their efforts to combat the behavioral health crisis sweeping the nation and impacting Pennsylvanians and their families. “Across the nation, courts have seen the behavioral health crisis grow in severity, frequency, and intensity, and the Pennsylvania judicial system is not immune,” said Justice Kevin Dougherty. “Pennsylvanians are struggling and finding too many barriers on the road to help and self-sufficiency. We must change that, and I am pleased to champion the need for systemic change in Pennsylvania’s court system.”
Chief Justice Funke’s First ‘State of the Judiciary’ Lauds Probation Services, Calls for More Funds In his first annual address to lawmakers Tuesday, Nebraska’s new Supreme Court chief justice called for more funding for court areas such as language interpreters, cybersecurity, veterans’ courts, and an “archaic” case document filing and management system. Another concern underscored in the half-hour talk to the public and state senators in the Legislative Chambers: insufficient behavioral health services — an area Funke said must be prioritized. While largely outside the direct purview of the judicial system, mental health challenges lead many Nebraskans into crime and abuse and neglect of children, Funke said. “The lack of treatment options means that our citizens are not getting the care they need, which reduces their chances of stability and recovery,” he said.
Wellbeing
In the LA Fires and the NC Floods, 'CPR For Mental Health' Treats Unseen Wounds Gurwitch is now an authority on addressing collective trauma — especially for children — at Duke University in North Carolina. Her expertise includes a focus on Psychological First Aid, a therapy that helps to address trauma and mitigate risk for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. The practice was pioneered by a group of researchers who — recognizing the need for new ways of treating trauma — came together 20 years ago to create an evidence-informed approach.
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