Leaders in jurisdictions able to implement the changes proposed in this chapter (along with those offered in the two preceding chapters, Involvement with the Mental Health System and Contact with Law Enforcement) will have gone a long way toward ensuring that persons with mental illness that come in contact with the criminal justice system will be treated fairly and appropriately. Improved collaboration with mental health providers, access to appropriate information, and increased awareness about mental illness will better prepare the courts to determine the proper resolution of cases involving defendants with mental illness. Sometimes, justice will be best served through diversion programs that help individuals with mental illness obtain treatment and support services. Many defendants with mental illness, however, will eventually be incarcerated.

The next chapter, Chapter IV: Incarceration and Reentry, focuses on an area of the criminal justice system that is too often overlooked - corrections. Correctional institutions are the ultimate destination for many individuals with mental illness who become involved with the criminal justice system; in many ways, they have become the country's new mental health institutions.

It is important for officials who focus on pretrial issues, adjudication, and sentencing to become familiar with the policies and programs that need to be in place to identify, treat, and prepare for release people with mental illness who are incarcerated. These are the issues that the subsequent set of policy statements address.