Mental Health/ Co-Occurring Juvenile Specialty Court

The Bureau of Justice Assistance's (BJA) Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program (JMHCP) is funded through the Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Act of 2004 (Public Law 108-414), which was reauthorized in 2008 (Public Law 110-416). The primary purpose of JMHCP is to increase public safety by facilitating collaboration among the criminal justice, juvenile justice, and mental health and substance abuse treatment systems to increase access to mental health and other treatment services for those individuals with mental illness or co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders. Jurisdictions are eligible to apply for planning, planning and implementation, or expansion funding through JMHCP.

The Montgomery County Commission will use the Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program (JMHCP) grant funds ($237,161) to finalize plans and implement a co-occurring juvenile mental health and substance abuse court in the 15th Judicial Circuit of Alabama. They will also develop curriculum materials for the psycho-educational needs of justice-involved youth and their families. CA/NCF