What Are Mental Health Courts?

Mental health courts are a relatively new type of problem-solving court begun in the late 1990s. The term mental health court is most often used to refer to a specialized docket for defendants with mental illnesses that provides:

The opportunity to participate in court-supervised treatment;
A court team composed of a judge, court personnel, and treatment providers, which defines terms of participation;
Continued status assessments with individualized sanctions and incentives; and
Resolution of case upon successful completion of mandated treatment plan.
(Bureau of Justice Assistance, Mental Health Courts Program)

There are many mental health court designs. For instance, while some mental health courts have been developed with a dedicated mental health staff and courtroom specifically designed for adjudication of cases involving mentally ill defendants, other mental health courts share courtrooms, staff, attorneys, and judges with traditional court dockets. In addition, some jurisdictions have developed mental health tracks within their existing drug courts. Although many mental health courts are voluntary in nature, they differ in terms of type of charges that are acceptable for entry, clinical eligibility criteria, stage of intervention, methods for resolving criminal charges, and use of sanctions. However, mental health courts do typically share some features:

A team approach that involves information sharing among judges, attorneys, probation staff, and mental health professionals
Screening and assessment of the problem(s)occurs early in the criminal justice process
Diversion from traditional criminal justice processing into treatment
Early intervention in the criminal justice process
An emphasis on problem solving and developing interventions/ treatment to reduce the likelihood of reoffending
A focus on continuity of care with treatment tailored to fit individual needs and circumstances
A strong focus on supervision
Defendants' understanding that the primary focus of the mental health court is on treatment and not adjudication of their case
Understanding by mentally ill defendants that their participation in the mental health court is voluntary
More personal interaction between the judge and the mentally ill defendant than in a traditional court
The use of rewards and sanctions

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