Consensus Project -

The Justice Center’s Criminal Justice/Mental Health Consensus Project is an unprecedented, national effort to help local, state, and federal policymakers and criminal justice and mental health professionals improve the response to people with mental illnesses who come into contact with the criminal justice system.

The Justice Center is the technical assistance provider for the Bureau of Justice Assistance’s Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program. This federal grant program is designed to increase public safety by facilitating collaboration among the criminal justice, juvenile justice, and mental health and substance use treatment systems and to improve outcomes for people with mental illnesses involved with the criminal justice system.

Go to the JMHCP page Browse Grantee Profiles

The Justice Center maintains an interactive online database of collaborative criminal justice/mental health programs from across the country. Fill out a survey to add your program to the database. Browse hundreds of specialized law enforcement programs, mental health courts, and specialized corrections and community corrections programs. Network with program planners and administrators tackling similar issues.

Add Your Program Search Program Profiles

The landmark Consensus Project Report, which was written by Justice Center staff and representatives of leading criminal justice and mental health organizations, was released in June 2002.

The Justice Center, with the support of its funders and project partners, develops a range of practical, nonpartisan, and consensus-based publications informed by available evidence, for policymakers, practitioners, and others involved in improving the response to people with mental illnesses involved in the criminal justice system.

Browse Our Publications

The Justice Center also coordinates the Reentry Policy Council, a project to chart the safe and successful return of prisoners to the community, and the Justice Reinvestment Initiative, a data-driven strategy for policymakers to reduce spending on corrections, increase public safety, and improve conditions in the neighborhoods to which most people released from prison return.

Visit the Reentry Policy Council website Visit the Justice Reinvestment website

Welcome
Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program
Local Programs Database
Justice Center Publications
Other Justice Center Projects

Announcements, Events, & Press Releases

Justice Reinvestment Bill introduced by U.S. Senate and House

The Criminal Justice Reinvestment Act of 2009 builds on the justice reinvestment work done by the Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center and will provide grants to state and local governments to design and advance data-driven, consensus-based strategies to reduce corrections spending and increase public safety.

Nov 18

Criminogenic Risks and Mental Health Webinar: November 18

The Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center is pleased to announce its seventh webinar sponsored by the Bureau of Justice Assistance: Individuals with Mental Illnesses in the Criminal Justice System: Addressing Both Criminogenic Risks and Mental Health Needs.

Media Clips

The Daily Journal (NJ) — Policy helps cops deal with mentally ill

11/10/09 — Earlier this year, the Vineland Police Department adopted a policy aimed at improving the way its officers interact with people who have mental illnesses.

Wilkes Barre Times-Leader (PA) — Mental Health Court considering applicants

11/6/09 — The Luzerne County Mental Health Court will provide psychological services to individuals with mental illnesses with non-violent misdemeanors and/or felonies, and some defendants charged with select violent offenses to reduce the strain on county prisons, detention centers and cost to taxpayers.

The Latest from the Justice Center

Webinar Archive: Individuals with Mental Illnesses in the Criminal Justice System: Addressing Both Criminogenic Risks and Mental Health Needs

Webinar Archive: Ensuring Access to Medicaid for Individuals with Mental Illnesses Reentering Their Communities from Prison: A Program Model from Oklahoma

Announcements, Events, & Press Releases

Criminogenic Risks and Mental Health Webinar: November 18

Media Clips

The Latest from the Justice Center

Materials and Videos from Training Event Now Available Online

Materials and Videos
from Training Event
Now Available Online