Experts Discuss Strategies for Addressing
Violence Against Women with Mental Illnesses
Staff of the Council of State Governments (CSG), which coordinates the Consensus Project, recently convened a
meeting of victim advocates and leaders in the mental health system to discuss how to improve resources for women
with serious mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia, serious depression, or bi-polar disorder, who have been
victims of crime. Frequently, these women fail to get the treatment, services, support, and protection they
need.
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more.
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Essential Elements of Specialized Police Responses: Police,
Mental Health Advocates, and Others React to Draft
Version
On behalf of the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), CSG staff recently conducted a web forum to collect comments on
a draft report that identifies and explains the essential elements of specialized police-based responses to people
with mental illnesses. Through the web forum, reviewers helped ensure that the document reflects real-world
experience and speaks to the particular concerns and circumstances facing different jurisdictions.
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read more.
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CSG Launches New Chief-Justice Led Task Force Initiative
As part of the Judges Criminal Justice / Mental Health Leadership Initiative (JLI), which CSG coordinates with the
National GAINS/TAPA Center, CSG staff will issue a request for applications from state supreme court chief justices
who wish to establish (or have already established) a statewide task force regarding people with mental illnesses in
the justice system.
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more
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CSG Partner Provides Keynote Address at Canadian National Policing Conference
Melissa Reuland, Senior Research Consultant with the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF), provided the keynote
address at the annual conference of the Canadian National Committee for Police/Mental Health Liaison, a subcommittee
of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police. The conference was held in Ottawa on October 29-31.
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here to read more.
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Announcements
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Criminal Justice and Mental Health in the News
Articles from the Consensus Project homepage - from newspapers around the country - covering issues at the
intersection of mental health and criminal justice are posted below. To access a complete list of media coverage,
visit the media coverage
page.
New York Times (NY) - Officials Clash Over Mentally Ill in Florida
Jails
11/15/06 - "For years, circuit judges here have ordered state officials to obey Florida law and
promptly transfer severely mentally ill inmates from jails to state hospitals...the state is being threatened with
steep daily fines if it does not comply."
The Oregonian (OR) - Police vs. mentally ill: time to change the whole approach
11/01/06 -
"The death of James Philip Chasse Jr. has forced a painful recognition: Even here, in a progressive city with a
highly trained police force, police treatment of the mentally ill remains, essentially, a matter of dumb
luck."
The Union Democrat
(CA) - Grant may ease crowded jail
10/30/06 - "...Tuolumne County Sheriff's Department, mental health and
probation officials have teamed up to seek a nearly $690,000 state grant they say will both reduce the inmate mental
illness rate and help keep more inmates from ending up back in jail."
The Oregonian (OR) - Editorial: The Death of James Chasse, Jr.
10/25/06 - The Chief of the
Portland Police Bureau writes in response to a tragic incident involving a person with a mental illness.
Winchester
Star (VA) - Memphis model offers understanding of people with mental health conditions
10/20/06 - "The
New River Valley's Crisis Intervention Team program is the first rural, multi-jurisdictional adaptation of the
original CIT concept."
Portland Press
Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram (ME) - With sicker inmates, costs for county spiral
10/8/06 - "The
study...was undertaken...to analyze the costs and benefits of programs that divert mentally ill people away from
jail and into treatment."
Lakelan
d Ledger (FL) - Funding Woes Don't Deter Group
10/07/06 - "Florida Partners in Crisis -- a coalition of
law enforcement, judges, providers of mental-health treatment and others -- began in response to a growing number of
people with mental illnesses being put in jail."
The New York Times
(NY) - Manhattan: Ruling for Aid to Mentally Ill Inmates
10/4/2006 - "An appellate court ruled yesterday that
New York City must help mentally ill inmates find psychiatric and other services when it releases them from jail
wards in city hospitals."
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