NCJ Number
178492
Date Published
1998
Length
6 pages
Annotation
In 1997, the first mental health court in the United States was established in Broward County, Florida, to deal with individuals arrested for misdemeanor offenses who are mentally ill or mentally retarded.
Abstract
Goals of the mental health court are to create effective interactions between criminal justice and mental health systems, to ensure legal advocacy for mentally ill defendants, to ensure mentally ill defendants do not languish in jail because of their mental illness, to balance the rights of defendants and the public by recommending the least restrictive and most appropriate dispositions for mentally ill defendants, to increase access of mentally ill defendants to community mental health services, to divert mentally ill defendants with minor criminal charges to community-based mental health services, to reduce contacts of mentally ill defendants with the criminal justice system by creating a bridge between criminal justice and mental health systems, to monitor the delivery and receipt of mental health services and treatment, and to solicit participation from consumers and family members in court decisions. The mental health court is a part-time operation that holds hearings 5 days a week, with extended status sessions on Thursday afternoons. The mental health court provides a first hearing as an emergency response to mentally ill defendants arrested and incarcerated the previous day on petty offenses. During the hearing, a determination is made as to the most appropriate treatment option, for example, civil commitment to a State psychiatric hospital or pretrial release with the condition the defendant participates in a community mental health program. During its first year of operation from July 1997 through June 1998, the mental health court received 413 cases from a variety of sources, and an estimated 25 percent of defendants referred to the mental health court were placed in community-based mental health programming. 1 table