Following two meetings of a focus group comprising various criminal justice and mental health stakeholders in 1999, project partners established four advisory boards to guide and contribute to the development of the Consensus Project Report. Collectively, these advisory groups included more than 100 leading state lawmakers, police chiefs, officers, sheriffs, district attorneys, public defenders, judges, court administrators, state corrections directors, community corrections officials, victim advocates, consumers, family members and other mental health advocates, county commissioners, state mental health directors, behavioral health care providers, substance abuse experts, and clinicians.