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In 2004, the Judges' Criminal Justice/Mental Health Leadership Initiative (JLI) was initiated to bring judges from all levels of state judiciaries together to improve judicial understanding of, and responses to, individuals with mental illnesses in our nation's courts.

The JLI's mission is to support and enhance the efforts of judges who have already taken leadership roles on criminal justice/mental health issues and promote leadership among more judges to address the overrepresentation of people with mental illness in the criminal justice system.

The JLI is led by an advisory board comprising judges from around the country and includes representatives from the National Center for State Courts, the National Judicial College, and Policy Research Associates (PRA) and staff support from the Council of State Governments Justice Center.

Since its establishment, the JLI has promoted improved understanding of the effective responses to defendants with mental illnesses through a regular newsletter with distribution to over 250 judges, two "benchbooks"—the Judges' Guide to Mental Health Jargon and the Judges' Guide to Mental Health Diversion Programs, technical assistance to state supreme court chief justice-led planning efforts in 11 states, and a collaborative outreach effort with Veterans Affairs on addressing the needs of criminal-justice involved individuals who have served in the military.

In 2010-2011, the JLI partnered with the American Psychiatric Foundation and a newly convened Psychiatric Leadership Group for Criminal Justice to develop a training module for judges on mental illnesses in the courtroom and a double-sided bench card on observations and recommended responses for judges who believe mental illness may be affecting a defendant appearing in court. For more information on this partnership, please go to http://www.psychfoundation.org/OurPrograms/Judges-Leadership-Initiative.aspx.

The JLI provides resources, including a quarterly newsletter designed to help adult criminal court judges improve their courts' responses to people with mental illness and encourage systemic change in the criminal justice and mental health systems.

To sign up for the JLI, please email Alex Blandford at ablandford@csg.org. Your email should include the following: Name, title, court/organization, state, and email address.

To order paper copies of the Judges' Guide to Mental Health Jargon or the Judges' Guide to Mental Health Diversion Programs, please visit the PRA website at: http://www.prainc.com/xml/services/popups/judges_guide.html.