Representatives of experienced mental health courts are in a unique position to help other communities plan or implement their own court-based programs to address the high numbers of people with mental illness involved in the criminal justice system. CSG invites representatives of such courts to participate in a national initiative to survey all known mental health courts.

The survey project, supported by the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), U.S. Department of Justice, is part of a federal initiative to promote local criminal justice/mental health collaboration. It is coordinated by the Council of State Governments (CSG) Criminal Justice/Mental Health Consensus Project in its role as technical assistance provider for the BJA Mental Health Courts Program (MHCP).

Data collected through this survey will populate the Criminal Justice/Mental Health Information Network (InfoNet), an online clearinghouse of program information, research, media, legislation, and more. The InfoNet is coordinated by CSG in collaboration with the National GAINS Center and other national policy organizations working to provide policymakers and practitioners with practical resources for addressing this problem in their communities.


This is the third -- and most comprehensive -- national survey of mental health courts coordinated by the Consensus Project and builds and improves upon previous surveys.

The first survey, conducted in 2003, was the result of a collaboration among the Consensus Project, NAMI, and the GAINS Center. It was developed in response to a shared observation among these organizations that no single body of information existed about this fast-growing phenomenon; in the late 1990s, there were only four known mental health courts, but by January 2004, 70 such courts were known to be operational. Click here to view the first national mental health court survey. The Web site developed to disseminate the first national survey will remain online until all of the data it contains is transferred to the InfoNet site. At that time, the old site will automatically re-direct Web traffic to the InfoNet Web site and eventually be taken offline.

Recognizing the degree of variation in how mental health courts are designed and implemented, the Consensus Project developed the second national mental health court survey in 2005 to capture more detailed program information from the then 120 known courts. The survey, administered in conjuction with the Consensus Project's Mental Health Courts and Beyond conference, was completed by nearly 100 mental health courts and court-based programs from over 30 states. Information from this survey helped shape BJA and the Consensus Project's technical assistance agenda including the development of BJA's Mental Health Court Learning Site program. (Results of this survey were also captured in the short pamphlet, Mental Health Courts: A National Snapshot.) Click here to view the second national mental health court survey.

In order to keep pace with the continued proliferation of mental health courts, the Consensus Project has developed its third, most extensive survey of mental health courts. But this third national survey is not only intended for communities with new courts: it is also meant to collect the most up-to-date, and highest quality, information from courts which completed either or both of the preceding surveys. Information from this survey will, for the first time, be available in an interactive criminal justice/mental health database, the InfoNet. The InfoNet will enable users to find relevant, useful information on mental health courts and other criminal justice/mental health programs as well as research, legislation, media coverage, advocacy, and statewide coordinating efforts to support these programs locally. The InfoNet will also provide a platform for peer to peer networking among mental health courts and other programs.

To contribute your expertise to this important effort, fill out a mental health court survey by clicking here.