Mental Health: Publications and Tools
Federal Benefits
The Justice Center, with funding support from the Center for Mental Health Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration; the JEHT foundation; and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, is coordinating a project to help policymakers ensure that eligible individuals with serious mental illnesses are enrolled in benefit programs such as SSI/SSDI and Medicaid upon release from jail or prison.
Consensus Project Report
The Consensus Project Report, which was released in June 2002, was authored by the Council of State Governments Justice Center and representatives of leading criminal justice and mental health organizations. The Report reflects the results of a series of meetings among 100 of the most respected criminal justice and mental health practitioners in the country.
Click here for sections of the report relevant to individuals under corrections supervision.
NIC Learning Sites
The Justice Center and the National Institute of Corrections (NIC) are working intensively in a number of jurisdictions that have demonstrated a history of innovation in assisting individuals with mental illnesses who are involved in the criminal justice system and have focused on a specific issue area around which they would benefit from technical assistance, and have expressed a willingness to share their successes and setbacks with other jurisdictions.
To date, Orange County, Florida; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Travis County, Texas; Rhode Island; and Kansas have served as learning sites. Click here for a case study about the Kansas learning site, and click here for a case study about the Orange County learning site.
Collaboration Assessment Tool
The Collaboration Assessment Tool is intended to help criminal justice and mental health organizations assess their existing level of collaboration; the questions apply to the organizations' specific collaborative activities and initiatives. With this goal in mind, the tool should be completed by both criminal justice and mental health representatives and their answers should represent a consensus. The tool is divided into four categories: knowledge base, system collaboration, service coordination and resources.
Coming soon
- Reinvesting in Behavioral Health Care to Reduce Crime and Involvement in Criminal Justice Systems: A Blueprint for State Administrators and Policymakers
- Essential Elements of Locally Administered, Specialized Probation Responses for People with Mental Illnesses
- Improving Outcomes for People with Mental Illnesses under Community Corrections Supervision: A Guide to Research-Informed Policy and Practice