Consumers, family members, and advocates often know firsthand the disruptive and often painful impact of involvement in the criminal justice system. Not surprisingly, they are frequently at the forefront of initiatives to improve the justice system's response to people with mental illness. The Consensus Project can help consumers, family members, and advocates to become even more effective agents of change, and to serve as important conduits of information between mental health and criminal justice agencies struggling to respond appropriately to this population.

Though the Consensus Project encourages a systemic approach to improving the criminal justice system response to people with mental illness, we recognize the need for consumers, family members, and advocates to focus on the issues that most directly pertain to their roles. To that end, we recommend that consumers, family members, and advocates focus on the following sections: