Are mental health courts an effective response to criminal offending?

Ending the Criminalization of Mental Illness

In the video provided , Judge Steven Leifman provides an outstanding overview of many of the problems the criminal justice system experiences regarding mental illness. Judge Leifman presents compelling data to show that jails have become de facto psychiatric facilities. In his talk, he discusses evidence of inhumane conditions in some jails, the role trauma among offender populations, particularly among women, the role of policing those with mental illness, the importance of crisis intervention training for police officers, as well as wellness of police officers. The bottom line is that Judge Leifman’s main argument is that that the system should be providing treatment for those experiencing trauma and crises. The point of the paper is to explore the research on the question below. This is not a reflection assignment – this is a research paper that should provide the state of the literature on the question selected.

Address the following research questions in a 4-5 page paper, using at least 7-10 peer reviewed sources (a paper less than 4 FULL pages will not be a passing paper).

1. Are mental health courts an effective response to criminal offending?

The link to the video is below, you may have to copy and paste it into the search bar.