106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 1865

AN ACT

To provide grants to establish demonstration mental health

courts.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘America’s Law En5 forcement and Mental Health Project’’.
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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

2 Congress finds that—

3 (1) fully 16 percent of all inmates in State pris4 ons and local jails suffer from mental illness, accord5 ing to a July, 1999 report, conducted by the Bureau

6 of Justice Statistics;

7 (2) between 600,000 and 700,000 mentally ill

8 persons are annually booked in jail alone, according

9 to the American Jail Association;

10 (3) estimates say 25 to 40 percent of America’s

11 mentally ill will come into contact with the criminal

12 justice system, according to National Alliance for the

13 Mentally Ill;

14 (4) 75 percent of mentally ill inmates have been

15 sentenced to time in prison or jail or probation at

16 least once prior to their current sentence, according

17 to the Bureau of Justice Statistics in July, 1999;

18 and

19 (5) Broward County, Florida and King County,

20 Washington, have created separate Mental Health

21 Courts to place nonviolent mentally ill offenders into

22 judicially monitored in-patient and out-patient men23 tal health treatment programs, where appropriate,

24 with positive results.
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1 SEC. 3. MENTAL HEALTH COURTS.

2 (a) AMENDMENT.—Title I of the Omnibus Crime

3 Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 is amended by in4 serting after part U (42 U.S.C. 3796hh et seq.) the fol5 lowing:

6 ‘‘PART V—MENTAL HEALTH

7 COURTS

8 ‘‘SEC. 2201. GRANT AUTHORITY.

9 ‘‘The Attorney General shall make grants to States,

10 State courts, local courts, units of local government, and

11 Indian tribal governments, acting directly or through

12 agreements with other public or nonprofit entities, for not

13 more than 100 programs that involve—

14 ‘‘(1) continuing judicial supervision, including

15 periodic review, over preliminarily qualified offenders

16 with mental illness, mental retardation, or co-occur17 ring mental illness and substance abuse disorders,

18 who are charged with misdemeanors or nonviolent

19 offenses; and

20 ‘‘(2) the coordinated delivery of services, which

21 includes—

22 ‘‘(A) specialized training of law enforce23 ment and judicial personnel to identify and ad24 dress the unique needs of a mentally ill or men25 tally retarded offender;
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1 ‘‘(B) voluntary outpatient or inpatient

2 mental health treatment, in the least restrictive

3 manner appropriate, as determined by the

4 court, that carries with it the possibility of dis5 missal of charges or reduced sentencing upon

6 successful completion of treatment;

7 ‘‘(C) centralized case management involv8 ing the consolidation of all of a mentally ill or

9 mentally retarded defendant’s cases, including

10 violations of probation, and the coordination of

11 all mental health treatment plans and social

12 services, including life skills training, such as

13 housing placement, vocational training, edu14 cation, job placement, health care, and relapse

15 prevention for each participant who requires

16 such services; and

17 ‘‘(D) continuing supervision of treatment

18 plan compliance for a term not to exceed the

19 maximum allowable sentence or probation for

20 the charged or relevant offense and, to the ex21 tent practicable, continuity of psychiatric care

22 at the end of the supervised period.

23 ‘‘SEC. 2202. DEFINITIONS.

24 ‘‘In this part—
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1 ‘‘(1) the term ‘mental illness’ means a

2 diagnosable mental, behavioral, or emotional

3 disorder—

4 ‘‘(A) of sufficient duration to meet diag5 nostic criteria within the most recent edition of

6 the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Men7 tal Disorders published by the American Psy8 chiatric Association; and

9 ‘‘(B) that has resulted in functional im10 pairment that substantially interferes with or

11 limits 1 or more major life activities; and

12 ‘‘(2) the term ‘preliminarily qualified offender

13 with mental illness, mental retardation, or co-occur14 ring mental and substance abuse disorders’ means a

15 person who—

16 ‘‘(A)(i) previously or currently has been di17 agnosed by a qualified mental health profes18 sional as having a mental illness, mental retar19 dation, or co-occurring mental illness and sub20 stance abuse disorders; or

21 ‘‘(ii) manifests obvious signs of mental ill22 ness, mental retardation, or co-occurring mental

23 illness and substance abuse disorders during ar24 rest or confinement or before any court; and
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1 ‘‘(B) is deemed eligible by designated

2 judges.

3 ‘‘SEC. 2203. ADMINISTRATION.

4 ‘‘(a) CONSULTATION.—The Attorney General shall

5 consult with the Secretary of Health and Human Services

6 and any other appropriate officials in carrying out this

7 part.

8 ‘‘(b) USE OF COMPONENTS.—The Attorney General

9 may utilize any component or components of the Depart10 ment of Justice in carrying out this part.

11 ‘‘(c) REGULATORY AUTHORITY.—The Attorney Gen12 eral shall issue regulations and guidelines necessary to

13 carry out this part which include, but are not limited to,

14 the methodologies and outcome measures proposed for

15 evaluating each applicant program.

16 ‘‘(d) APPLICATIONS.—In addition to any other re17 quirements that may be specified by the Attorney General,

18 an application for a grant under this part shall—

19 ‘‘(1) include a long-term strategy and detailed

20 implementation plan;

21 ‘‘(2) explain the applicant’s inability to fund the

22 program adequately without Federal assistance;

23 ‘‘(3) certify that the Federal support provided

24 will be used to supplement, and not supplant, State,
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1 Indian tribal, and local sources of funding that

2 would otherwise be available;

3 ‘‘(4) identify related governmental or commu4 nity initiatives which complement or will be coordi5 nated with the proposal;

6 ‘‘(5) certify that there has been appropriate

7 consultation with all affected agencies and that there

8 will be appropriate coordination with all affected

9 agencies in the implementation of the program, in10 cluding the State mental health authority;

11 ‘‘(6) certify that participating offenders will be

12 supervised by one or more designated judges with re13 sponsibility for the mental health court program;

14 ‘‘(7) specify plans for obtaining necessary sup15 port and continuing the proposed program following

16 the conclusion of Federal support;

17 ‘‘(8) describe the methodology and outcome

18 measures that will be used in evaluating the pro19 gram; and

20 ‘‘(9) certify that participating first time offend21 ers without a history of a mental illness will receive

22 a mental health evaluation.

23 ‘‘SEC. 2204. APPLICATIONS.

24 ‘‘To request funds under this part, the chief executive

25 or the chief justice of a State or the chief executive or
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1 chief judge of a unit of local government or Indian tribal

2 government shall submit to the Attorney General an appli3 cation in such form and containing such information as

4 the Attorney General may reasonably require.

5 ‘‘SEC. 2205. FEDERAL SHARE.

6 ‘‘The Federal share of a grant made under this part

7 may not exceed 75 percent of the total costs of the pro8 gram described in the application submitted under section

9 2204 for the fiscal year for which the program receives

10 assistance under this part, unless the Attorney General

11 waives, wholly or in part, the requirement of a matching

12 contribution under this section. The use of the Federal

13 share of a grant made under this part shall be limited

14 to new expenses necessitated by the proposed program, in15 cluding the development of treatment services and the hir16 ing and training of personnel. In-kind contributions may

17 constitute a portion of the non-Federal share of a grant.

18 ‘‘SEC. 2206. GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION.

19 ‘‘The Attorney General shall ensure that, to the ex20 tent practicable, an equitable geographic distribution of

21 grant awards is made that considers the special needs of

22 rural communities, Indian tribes, and Alaska Natives.

23 ‘‘SEC. 2207. REPORT.

24 ‘‘A State, Indian tribal government, or unit of local

25 government that receives funds under this part during a
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1 fiscal year shall submit to the Attorney General a report

2 in March of the following year regarding the effectiveness

3 of this part.

4 ‘‘SEC. 2208. TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE, TRAINING, AND EVAL5 UATION.

6 ‘‘(a) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AND TRAINING.—The

7 Attorney General may provide technical assistance and

8 training in furtherance of the purposes of this part.

9 ‘‘(b) EVALUATIONS.—In addition to any evaluation

10 requirements that may be prescribed for grantees, the At11 torney General may carry out or make arrangements for

12 evaluations of programs that receive support under this

13 part.

14 ‘‘(c) ADMINISTRATION.—The technical assistance,

15 training, and evaluations authorized by this section may

16 be carried out directly by the Attorney General, in collabo17 ration with the Secretary of Health and Human Services,

18 or through grants, contracts, or other cooperative arrange19 ments with other entities.’’.

20 (b) TECHNICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents

21 of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets

22 Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3711 et seq.), is amended by in23 serting after part U the following:

‘‘PART V—MENTAL HEALTH COURTS

‘‘Sec. 2201. Grant authority.

‘‘Sec. 2202. Definitions.

‘‘Sec. 2203. Administration.
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‘‘Sec. 2204. Applications.

‘‘Sec. 2205. Federal share.

‘‘Sec. 2206. Geographic distribution.

‘‘Sec. 2207. Report.

‘‘Sec. 2208. Technical assistance, training, and evaluation.’’.

1 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—Section

2 1001(a) of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe

3 Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3793(a)) is amended by

4 inserting after paragraph (19) the following:

5 ‘‘(20) There are authorized to be appropriated to

6 carry out part V, $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years

7 2001 through 2004.’’.

Passed the Senate September 26 (legislative day,

September 22), 2000.

Attest:

Secretary.
106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 1865

AN ACT

To provide grants to establish demonstration

mental health courts.