Mental Health Resources
The Criminal Justice / Mental Health Consensus Project is an unprecedented, national effort coordinated by the CSG Justice Center. Its goal is to help local, state, and federal policymakers and criminal justice and mental health professionals improve the response to people with mental illnesses who become involved in, or are at risk of involvement in, the criminal justice system. Below is a list of Consensus Project resources, which are also available on the project website, consensusproject.org
Core Documents
- Project Overview (pdf)
- Consensus Project Report
- Consensus Project Report Overview (pdf)
- Consensus Project e-newsletter
Project Descriptions
- Advocacy Handbook: Brochure (pdf)
- Criminal Justice / Mental Health Information Network: Overview (pdf)
- Judges' Criminal Justice / Mental Health Leadership Initiative: Overview (pdf)
- Law Enforcement / Mental Health Partnership Program: Overview (pdf)
- Mental Health Courts: A National Snapshot (pdf)
- Mental Health Court Learning Sites (pdf)
- Mental Health Court Learning Sites: Program Snapshots and Detailed Descriptions
- National Institute of Corrections Learning Sites: Overview (pdf)
- Violence Against Women with Mental Illness: Overview (pdf)
- Victims of Crimes Committed by People with Mental Illness: Overview (pdf)
Products
- Advocacy Handbook: A Guide to Implementing the Recommendations of the Consensus Project Report
- Consensus Project e-newsletter
- Consensus Project Report
- Consensus Project Report Overview (pdf)
- Council of State Governments / National Institute of Corrections Collaboration Assessment Tool
- Criminal Justice / Mental Health Information Network
- Essential Elements of a Mental Health Court (pdf)
- Guide to Mental Health Court Implementation (pdf)
- Guide to Collecting Mental Health Court Outcome Data (pdf)
- Judges' Primer on Mental Illness, Addictive Disorders, Co-Occurring Disoders, and Integrated Treatment
- Navigating the Mental Health Maze (pdf)
- Violence Against Women with Mental Illness Issue Brief (pdf)
Coming Soon
- Essential Elements of a Specialized Police Response Program. Presents a discussion of guiding principles for improving the outcomes of police encounters with people with mental illnesses.
- Mental Health Court Handbook on Victim Involvement. Offers recommendations for planning, implementing, and sustaining a protocol for involving victims in the mental health court setting.
- What Is a Mental Health Court? Defines the key aspects of mental health courts‚ as well as common misperceptions‚ and discusses emerging trends in mental health court design across the country.
- Strategies for Effective Law Enforcement Training. Provides recommendations for designing a training curriculum that improves officers’ responses to people with mental illnesses using a collaborative approach. The guide reviews how to select appropriate trainers who can teach effective intervention techniques and how to best prepare these trainers.
- Victims of Crimes Committed by People with Mental Illnesses. Issue Brief. Describes ways to improve services and policies that protect the rights of crime victims whose perpetrators are individuals with mental illnesses. It details some of the key challenges that may complicate, or in some cases preclude, the enforcement of these victims’ rights.
- Violence Against Women with Mental Illnesses: Policy Recommendations. Offers recommendations for planning, implementing, and sustaining community collaborations to improve services for women with mental illnesses who have been the victims of violence.