Mental Health Court Performance Measurement Project

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 (NSCS) will implement the Mental Health Court Performance Measurement Project funded under Category 4: Enhancing Local Courts. NCSC will develop a performance measurement system for mental health courts through a collaborative process with mental health court practitioners, researchers, and policy makers. The objective of the project is to
develop a set of concise and manageable indicators of mental health court performance. An advisory group will be convened to select, define, and review the performance areas and measures. NCSC will develop a prototype data collection instrument and an example of an end user report with graphics and other data displays.

CA/NCF