Legislative Roundup: State Governments Tackle Mental Health and Criminal Justice Issues

In 2007, state legislators across the country continued to address the high numbers of people with mental illnesses who are involved, or at risk of becoming involved, with the criminal justice system, through new legislation and renewed budgets. The Council of State Governments Justice Center has compiled a list of some new state laws that focus on mental illness and treatment within the criminal justice system.¹

Arkansas

• House Bill 2721: Requires all county jail officials to create a standardized tracking system to identify jail inmates who have mental illnesses. The goal of this tracking system is to better determine which inmates need psychiatric help and which need co-occurring substance abuse treatment. This law also requires that county officials establish protocols for providing case managers to jail inmates with mental illnesses and requires the establishment of an oversight committee of mental health and criminal justice representatives. This committee would recommend ways to address most effectively the issue of people with mental illnesses involved with the criminal justice system.


• House Bill 2731: Allows professionals from the Criminal Justice Institute of the University of Arkansas System to teach law enforcement and corrections officers about ways to interface appropriately with people with mental illnesses. The purpose of this program is “to establish a collaborative effort between law enforcement officers and jail personnel and the community to provide appropriate services to persons with mental illness.”

Download the full text of House Bill 2721.

Download the full text of House Bill 2731.

California

• Assembly Bill 14: Amends several portions of the California State Welfare and Institutions Code. These changes create new service standards for people who work in the California Department of Mental Health programs. Staff members of this department must now develop new protocols for identifying and contacting people with mental illnesses who are in need of services. Staff members must locate both people with mental illnesses who are homeless or at risk for becoming so and people with mental illnesses who have completed a mental health court program or have been released from parole. Department staff must actively reach out to this population to connect them to needed services, such as psychiatric and psychological services, substance use services, supportive housing or housing assistance, job training and veterans' services. This law also requires that the staff of these programs be culturally competent and bilingual in order to effectively serve all California residents.

Idaho

• House Bill 180: Amends the current distribution of funds from the state liquor account to fund diversion courts, community colleges, public schools, and state welfare programs. Through this law, legislators authorized a transfer of $680,000 to drug courts, mental health courts, and family services courts within the state. Legislators also created a Supervision Fund and authorized a transfer of $440,000 from the state liquor accounts to this fund. Criminal justice officials will be able to use this money to pay for the cost of supervising participants in both drug courts and mental health courts.

Download a snapshot of the Bonneville County mental health court.

Illinois

• Senate Bill 677: Entitled the Mental Health Court Treatment Act, this law establishes parameters for the creation of mental health court programs within the state. According to this law, the prosecutor, defendant and court officials must all agree to a potential participant’s participation in the mental health court program. Mental health court team members must also exclude people charged with most types of violent crime, and must incorporate graduated requirements, such as individual or group therapy, medication, drug testing and education and vocational training, into the program. Court officials must also utilize rewards for compliance with the courts’ terms of participation, and utilize sanctions, such as fines, court fees, restitution and jail time, for noncompliance with these terms of participation. The law also mandates that mental health court staff connect participants to local providers of co-occurring substance abuse treatment, if needed.

Visit the Consensus Project mental health courts webpage to learn more about mental health courts in general.

Nevada

• Senate Bill 2: Mandates the creation of a statewide committee on co-occurring mental illnesses and substance use disorders. Members of this committee must include a psychiatrist, family therapist, social worker, criminal justice agency representative, and a substance abuse treatment representative. The committee will study co-occurring disorders, develop policy strategies for addressing the needs of individuals with co-occurring disorders, and make recommendations, based on these strategies, for improving treatment options within the state. The committee also will evaluate existing statewide resources for people with co-occurring disorders and will examine possible Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) funds or technical assistance to support the development and implementation of a system of comprehensive care for individuals with co-occurring disorders.


• Assembly Bill 629: Details all of the annual appropriations and authorizations for fiscal year 2008. Among the various appropriations, state legislators authorized the transfer of money from the State General Fund to the state Department of Health and Human Services. Department officials will allocate this money to different organizations, including $916,050 to the Clark County Mental Health Court and $617,000 to the Washoe County Mental Health Court. Mental health court officials can use this money to increase staff or to connect participants to local providers of services and supported living arrangements.

Read more about the Clark County Mental Health Court on the InfoNet.

Download a snapshot of the Washoe County Mental Health Court.

New Mexico

• Senate Bill 611: Details all authorizations and appropriations for fiscal year 2008, including an $80,000 allocation for an adult mental health court in the 12th Judicial District, which includes the rural counties of Otero and Lincoln.

New York

• Assembly Bill 9342 and Senate Bill 6422: Mandate that prison officials now have to take individuals with serious mental illness in prison out of solitary confinement and place them in secure treatment facilities whenever possible. In the event that solitary confinement is absolutely necessary for safety reasons, those individuals must have access to treatment every day for up to four hours. Corrections officers and prison staff will also receive more training to improve interactions with people with mental illnesses.