While victims of a crime committed by a person with a mental illness have no more rights than other victims, they may have more needs. When the accused person has a mental illness, the pain of the victim can be exacerbated by the confusing jargon, procedures, decisions, and legal dispositions that might arise in the prosecution of that person. The Consensus Project can help victims and victim advocates to better understand the complex issues inherent in such cases, and victim advocates to serve as an informed and effective link between victims and the criminal justice and mental health systems.

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 victims and victim advocates to focus on the issues that most directly pertain to their roles. To that end, we recommend that victims and victim advocates focus on the following sections: