Mental Health Services to the Courts: A System Isolated From Judicial Administration (From Criminal Court Consultation, P 29-44, 1989, Richard Rosner, Ronnie B Harmon, eds. -- See NCJ-135552)

• NCJ Number: 135555
• Author(s): I Keilitz
• Date Published: 1989
• Length: 16 pages
• Sale Source: Plenum Press
• Publication Type: Legislation/Policy Analysis
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

The mental health clinics that serve the courts in the United States vary in their structure and organization and in how they function as part of the overall administration of justice.

Abstract

These clinics are not the only structural arrangement for providing expert mental health consultation to the courts, but they are the most prominent. Currently these clinics are isolated from both the mental health system and the judicial administration. To end this isolation and to enable courts to dispose of disputes involving claims of mental disorder justly, rapidly, and economically, the structure, organization, and administration of mental health expert services should become integrated with the judicial administration of the courts. Recent United States Supreme Court decisions are supportive of this approach. This integration should result in evaluations of court clinics and related programs, research programs, demonstrations of innovative organizational structures, and the professionalization of forensic mental health clinicians. 23 references