A Handbook for Developing a Mental Health Court Docket

Mental health courts focus on the treatment and rehabilitation of offenders with a history of serious mental illness, which is oftentimes the root cause of the person’s criminal involvement. Some of the goals of mental health court dockets include:

• Diverting non-violent offenders out of the traditional criminal justice track
• Reducing the length of confinement for offenders with serious mental illness
• Improving the mental health and well-being of the participants
• Increasing access to treatment services
• Creating effective working relationships between the treatment and criminal justice systems
• Improving public safety by reducing recidivism
• Relieving jail and prison overcrowding

The Specialized Dockets Section’s A Handbook for Developing a Mental Health Docket offers guidance for judges on assessing the need for the docket, determining which type of docket works best, identifying personnel and resource issues and evaluating the program.

A Handbook for Developing a Mental Health Court Docket is available by contacting the the Specialized Docket Section at 614.387.9425 or by e-mail: specdocs@sc.ohio.gov.