Archive
Looking Back at Five Years of a Federal Program Supporting County Justice Systems
The Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program (JMHCP) supports communities across the country in their work to address overrepresentation of people with behavioral health needs in the criminal justice system. For five years, between 2015 and 2019, the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs’ Bureau of Justice Assistance… Read More
Site Snapshot: Update on How Three Counties Are Serving High-Needs Populations
The CSG Justice Center is highlighting three of these communities: Bernalillo County, New Mexico; Fulton County, Georgia; and Polk County, Iowa. Each of these jurisdictions is both a Stepping Up Innovator and a MacArthur Foundation Safety and Justice Challenge site. This snapshot focuses on the sites’ successes and challenges in their work with priority populations, as well as some of their upcoming goals. Read more about where these counties started. Read More
Site Snapshot: How Three Counties Are Serving High-Needs Populations
The CSG Justice Center is highlighting three of these communities: Bernalillo County, New Mexico; Fulton County, Georgia; and Polk County, Iowa. To understand their progress and their challenges, we will check in with these counties over the course of the next two years. Each of these jurisdictions is both a Stepping Up Innovator County and a MacArthur Foundation Safety and Justice Challenge site. Read More
In Focus: Prioritizing Policy, Practice, and Funding Improvements
This new brief from the Stepping Up partners guides counties through the process of defining the most important cross-system changes to help reduce the number of people in jails who have serious mental illnesses. To have the greatest possible impact on the prevalence of serious mental illness in jails, these changes should address one or more of Stepping Up’s four key measures: (1) the number of people booked into jail who have serious mental illnesses; (2) their average length of stay in jail; (3) how many people are connected to treatment and services; and (4) their recidivism rates. Read More
Dauphin County, Pennsylvania: A County Justice and Mental Health Systems Improvement Project
The CSG Justice Center conducted an in-depth, cross-systems data analysis of the flow of people who have serious mental illnesses (SMI) through the Dauphin County criminal justice system. This report includes the key findings and policy recommendations. Read More
Douglas County, Kansas: A County Justice and Behavioral Health Systems Improvement Project
In 2018, elected officials and criminal justice and behavioral health leaders in Douglas County, Kansas, asked The Council of State Governments Justice Center to conduct an in-depth, cross-systems data analysis of the flow of people with serious mental illnesses and co-occurring substance addictions through the local criminal justice system and to identify ways to achieve better health and public safety outcomes. This report presents opportunities to expand what Douglas County is already doing well and improve upon systems performance. Read More