Judicial Decision-Making in Mental Health Courts

The Edward Byrne Memorial Discretionary Grants Program, administered by the Office of Justice Programs' (OJP's) Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), furthers the Department's mission by assisting state and local jurisdictions in improving the criminal justice system and assisting communities in preventing drug abuse and crime. In fiscal year 2007, the Edward Byrne Memorial Discretionary Grants Program will focus on funding local, regional, and national efforts within six major categories: 1) targeting violent crime; 2) preventing crime and drug abuse; 3) enhancing local law enforcement; 4) enhancing local courts; 5) enhancing local corrections and offender reentry; and 6) facilitating justice information sharing. All categories combat, address, or otherwise respond to precipitous or extraordinary increases in crime, or in a type or types of crime.

The National Center for State Courts (NCSC) will implement the Judicial Decision-making in Mental Health Courts Project funded under Category 4: Enhancing Local Courts. They will educate judges who may someday develop and implement a mental health court, or come to preside over an existing mental health court to improve their effective judicial decision-making. The NCSC will explore how mental health evaluations are used, when such information enters the court, and how it is evaluated and assessed in the context of mental health courts.

CA/NCF