A conference on court-based initiatives, Mental Health Courts and Beyond: Improving the Response to People with Mental Illness in the Criminal Justice System, will be held in Los Angeles on June 21 and 22, 2005. The conference is being organized by the Council of State Governments (CSG), technical assistance provider for the Bureau of Justice Assistance's (BJA) Mental Health Courts Program.

Attendance is by invitation only; all mental health courts listed in the Mental Health Court Survey will be invited. Invitations will be sent out by February 11, 2005. If you have questions or concerns regarding an invitation, please contact Denise Tomasini, 212-482-2320.

The conference will be geared towards mental health courts, but will also address broader issues of mental illness in the courts. It will be open to BJA grantee and non-grantee mental health courts alike. Grantees' expenses will be covered under their BJA grant; scholarships will be available for non-grantees. CSG will post information about these scholarship opportunities as soon as more information is available through BJA.

Because of the high number of mental health courts and court-based programs invited, jurisdictions will be asked to limit the number of attendees to four. Judges are strongly encouraged to attend.

A web page containing important conference information, including registration materials, will soon be available on the Mental Health Courts Program web site.

The conference will include information geared for both experienced and newer courts. Specifically, the conference will seek to enable courts to

• Improve their program’s design and operation.
• Learn about methods, in addition to mental health courts, to improve outcomes for people with mental illness in the criminal justice system.
• Gain exposure to recent research.
• Acquire familiarity with available resources, including technical assistance (TA) from CSG.
• Exchange ideas and tools, including court forms and manuals.

For information on last year's conference, click here.