The Consensus Project recently hosted a webinar on exploring successful practices for directing youth with mental health disorders, including those with co-occurring substance dependence, to treatment. The webinar also examined innovative and collaborative programming that some jurisdictions have employed that have decreased the harmful effects of a youth's on-going involvement with the juvenile justice system. The recorded webinar is now available online. You are also invited to participate in an online discussion forum on this important topic. There, you can post any of your unanswered questions from the webinar, or share the lessons learned within your own jurisdiction about your successes and challenges with implementing juvenile diversion programs. We look forward to hearing from you on the forum!

Individuals considering a job in corrections have an invaluable new resource to guide their job search. "Discover Corrections" provides extensive guidance to help you find a job, as well as a database of different types of corrections jobs across the country. The site explains how the corrections field is organized, the types of jobs you can find in this diverse and dynamic area, and the benefits of a career in corrections. The site is managed by the American Probation and Parole Association (APPA), in partnership with the American Correctional Association (ACA), American Jail Association (AJA), and the Center for Innovative Public Policies (CIPP). It is funded by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance.

Since 2005, he served as the Director of the Office of Court Administration for the state of Texas. In that capacity, he oversaw the staff of the Texas Judicial Council, the agency that sets policy for the state’s sprawling judicial system, which includes hundreds and hundreds of courts operating at the district, county, and municipal level. While director, Carl implemented two new regulatory programs and a court cost collection improvement program, helped reengineer how Texas courts handle foster children in their care, and spearheaded aggressive efforts to provide the poor with legal services.

The committee, comprised of key criminal justice researchers and academics from across the nation, will examine the causes of the dramatic increases in incarceration rates since the 1970s, the costs and benefits of the nation's current sentencing and incarceration policies, and the evidence that alternative punishments might achieve similar public safety benefits at lower financial and social costs. These findings will be compiled in a report, scheduled for a summer of 2013 release. The committee will also develop a future research agenda around these same questions.

House and Senate Appropriators released their fiscal year 2013 justice funding bills this week. Responding to continued congressional support for the Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Act (MIOTCRA), both the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, and Science and the Senate Appropriations Committee provided robust funding for the program, proposing $9 million in FY13.

SAMHSA’s GAINS Center for Behavioral Health and Justice Transformation, operated by Policy Research Associates, Inc. (PRA), is soliciting applications from communities interested in its How Being Trauma-Informed Improves Criminal Justice System Responses training.

The target audiences for this training are community-based criminal justice system professionals - including police, community corrections (probation, parole, and pre-trial services officers), and court personnel - and human service providers. The training is being offered in two formats: a training delivery and a training of trainers.

Training will be offered free of charge to up to six selected communities between May 2012 and September 2012. Since the purpose of this training initiative is to offer targeted technical assistance and training to prepared communities in the field, there are no fees for registration, tuition, or materials associated with these trainings.

Applications are due no later than April 6, 2012.

The target audiences for this workshop are criminal justice system, mental health, and substance abuse professionals; consumer representatives; community support services representatives; cultural organizations; elected officials; and other key stakeholders.

To download the Sequential Intercept Mapping solicitation, click here. To learn more about the training, click here.

The GAINS Center will offer these trainings free of charge to up to six selected communities between May 2012 and September 2012. Since the purpose of this training initiative is to offer targeted technical assistance and training to prepared communities in the field, there are no fees for registration, tuition, or materials associated with these trainings.

Applications are due no later than April 6, 2012.

On November 16, 2011, Ohio Supreme Court Justice Evelyn Lundberg Stratton and Attorney General Mike DeWine announced that the Advisory Committee on Mental Illness and the Courts (ACMIC) would evolve into the Attorney General's Task Force on Criminal Justice and Mental Illness, allowing the group to expand into areas beyond the court system. The new task force is being co-chaired by Justice Stratton and Attorney General DeWine, and had its first meeting Dec. 12, 2011 at the Ohio Supreme Court.

To view the table of contents (which identifies expert contributors), click here.

The book is available for purchase from the Civic Research Institute, Inc. To submit an order, click here.

Conference organizers have also issued a call for presentations. To submit a presentation proposal, click here. Proposals are due by March 17, 2012.

To download the solicitation, click here.

Applications are due by 11:59 p.m. ET, March 8, 2012.

Recently, congressional leaders took strong action to protect the Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Act (MIOTCRA), particularly the law enforcement resources in the program. The Mentally Ill Offender Treatment program strengthens the criminal justice system’s responses to people with mental illnesses by supporting mental health courts; mental health and substance abuse treatment for incarcerated mentally ill offenders; and cross-training of criminal justice and mental health personnel. It is designed to address the tremendous numbers of individuals with mental illnesses that are cycling through the criminal justice system with poor—even tragic—outcomes for the individual and public safety.

On Monday, President Obama unveiled his fiscal year 2013 budget. The $3.8 trillion budget allocates $28.2 billion to justice programs.

The CSG Justice Center applauds the inclusion of $80 million for Second Chance Act programs and $6 million for Justice Reinvestment initiatives in the President’s Budget. The budget also proposes that funding for the Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Act (MIOTCRA)—the funding source for the Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program—be combined with a drug and mental health courts program into a $52 million problem solving grants initiative.

• $9 million for MIOTCRA grant programs;
• $63 million for Second Chance Act grant programs;
• $470 million for Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grants;
• $6 million for comprehensive criminal justice reform and recidivism reduction efforts by states, also known as “justice reinvestment;”
• $35 million for drug courts;
• $10 million for residential substance abuse treatment programs;
• $20 million for Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act grant programs; and
• $12.5 million for prison rape prevention and prosecution and other programs.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, has awarded Policy Research Associates a five-year contract to operate “SAMHSA’s GAINS Center for Behavioral Health and Justice Transformation.” Formerly known as the National GAINS Center, SAMHSA's GAINS Center will provide technical assistance to the field and to SAMHSA grant programs. The center will provide the field guidance on integrating best practices in mental health and substance use treatment for justice-involved persons, with a specific eye on the impact of the Affordable Care Act.