There are several landmark reports and other materials with which advocates should familiarize themselves, some of which are described below:
Criminal Justice/Mental Health Consensus Project Report:
Published in 2002, the Consensus Project Report outlines 23 events, or decision points, along the criminal justice continuum at which communities can take steps to better respond to people with mental illness, and discusses at length the four overarching issues of collaboration, training, building an effective mental health system, and evaluation.
Courage to Change:
This 1999 GAINS Center publication remains one of the most helpful guides to developing cross-systems collaborations around criminal justice, mental health, and substance abuse treatment issues.
Jail Diversion for People with Mental Illness: Developing Supportive Community Coalitions:
This 2003 publication, a joint effort between the GAINS Center and the National Mental Health Association, highlights the role of advocacy organizations in promoting jail diversion in communities across the country.
Finding the Key:
This paper, authored by the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law in 2001, examines the importance of ensuring that people with serious mental illness are enrolled in federal entitlement programs as they leave prison or jail, describing these federal programs' complex and interrelated rules, and providing some ways for state and local officials to use them more effectively.
Surgeon General's Report on Mental Health:
Written in 1999, the Report of the Surgeon General on Mental Health remains the most comprehensive account of the state of mental illness and mental health care in the United States.
Report of the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health:
The 2003 Report of the New Freedom Commission is the first presidential-commissioned report on mental health care since the late 1970s. The report calls for transformation of a fundamentally broken system, and outlines six key goals to which mental health care in the United States should aspire.
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