The Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), a division of the Office of Justice Programs in the U.S. Department of Justice, recently chose five mental health court learning sites as part of its Mental Health Courts Program (MHCP):

• Akron (OH) Municipal Mental Health Court
• Bonneville County (ID) Mental Health Court
• Bronx County (NY) Mental Health Court
• Dougherty Superior Court (GA) Mental Health Court
• Washoe County (NV) Mental Health Court

Learning sites will act as a resource for state and local government officials across the country who are considering the development of a mental health court or who are interested in refining the operation of an existing mental health court. Learning sites will also become leaders in the field by working with BJA and the Council of State Governments (CSG), coordinator of the Criminal Justice / Mental Health Consensus Project, to continually assess and improve their own program operations.

Learning sites were chosen from approximately 120 mental health courts across the nation through a selection process that began in March 2005. BJA and CSG staff developed a rigorous process for choosing learning sites. The process included surveys, advice from expert consultants, and two-day intensive visits of each finalist site during which a criminal justice expert, a mental health expert, and a CSG staff person observed the courts’ operations and interviewed key team members.

The five learning sites will host site visits from interested local and state government officials over a two-year period, answer phone and email questions from the field, and work with CSG staff to develop materials for their courts. BJA, in turn, will sponsor a two-day training forum for the learning sites, absorb some of the costs associated with hosting visits, and help facilitate peer-to-peer technical assistance requests.

For more information on the learning sites, please click here or contact Denise Tomasini, 646-383-5715.

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