DOI: 10.3886/icpsr04114.v1
title: Evaluation of the Bureau of Justice Assistance Mental Health Court Initiative at Seven Sites in the United States, 2003-2004
title: Version 1

description: This study evaluated seven mental health courts that were partially funded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance. Data were collected on 285 formal referrals to the seven courts between November 1, 2003, and January 31, 2004. For every referral, court staff completed a one-page questionnaire that covered (1) identification of the referring agent, (2) characteristics of the referred person, including age, gender, race, criminal charges, and type of mental disorder, and (3) the disposition decision.
description: This study evaluated seven mental health courts that were partially funded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance. They were located in Santa Clara County, California, Orange County, North Carolina, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Washoe County, Nevada, Brooklyn, New York, Bonneville County, Idaho, and Orange County, California. Research questions concerned (1) how cases were referred, processed, and disposed of by the courts and (2) whether there were factors that distinguished cases accepted by the court from cases referred to the court but not accepted. The researchers were also interested in whether mental health courts, like the majority of other jail diversion programs, would have older, white women disproportionately represented in comparison to their numbers in the criminal justice system as a whole.
description: Data were collected on 285 people who were formally referred to the seven courts between November 1, 2003, and January 31, 2004. A formal referral was defined slightly differently for each court, but, in general, it was a person who passed through that court's pre-determined referral process. Court staff completed a one-page questionnaire for every formal referral during the study period. The questionnaire had three parts: (1) identification of the referring agent, (2) characteristics of the referred person, and (3) the disposition decision. The questionnaires were received back from the courts between November 2003 and March 2004.
description: Variables include referral date, referring agent, age, gender, race, most serious criminal charge, type of crime, number of current misdemeanors and felonies, whether the person had a major mental disorder, type of disorder, primary Axis I diagnosis, whether the person had substance abuse problems, date of referral disposition, referral disposition outcome, if accepted, whether the person enrolled, reason if not accepted, and several derived variables.
description: Response Rates: Completed surveys were received from all seven sites involved in the study.
description: Presence of Common Scales: None
description: In 2002 the Bureau of Justice Assistance began funding 23 mental health courts in the United States. This study covered the seven that were operational at the time the study began.
description: Datasets: DS1: Evaluation of the Bureau of Justice Assistance Mental Health Court Initiative at Seven Sites in the United States, 2003-2004
description: Individuals formally referred to the seven mental health courts covered by this study between November 1, 2003, and January 31, 2004. Smallest Geographic Unit: None.