I 
107TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5701
To foster local collaborations which will ensure that resources are effectively 
and efficiently used within the criminal and juvenile justice systems. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OCTOBER 24, 2002
Mr. STRICKLAND introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on the Judiciary 
A BILL 
To foster local collaborations which will ensure that resources 
are effectively and efficiently used within the criminal 
and juvenile justice systems.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Mentally Ill Offender 
Treatment and Crime Reduction Act of 2002’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) According to the Bureau of Justice Statis-
tics, over 16 percent of adults incarcerated in United 
States jails and prisons have a mental illness.
(2) According to the Office of Juvenile Justice 
and Delinquency Prevention, approximately 20 per-
cent of youth in the juvenile justice system have se-
rious mental health problems, and a significant 
number have co-occurring mental health and sub-
stance abuse disorders. 
(3) According to the National Alliance for the 
Mentally Ill, up to 40 percent of adults who suffer 
from a serious mental illness will come into contact 
with the American criminal justice system at some 
point in their lives. 
(4) According to the Office of Juvenile Justice 
and Delinquency Prevention, over 150,000 juveniles 
who come into contact with the juvenile justice sys-
tem each year meet the diagnostic criteria for at 
least 1 mental or emotional disorder. 
(5) A significant proportion of adults with a se-
rious mental illness who are involved with the crimi-
nal justice system are homeless or at imminent risk 
of homelessness; and many of these individuals are 
arrested and jailed for minor, nonviolent offenses. 
(6) The majority of individuals with a mental 
illness or emotional disorder who are involved in the 
criminal or juvenile justice systems are responsive to
medical and psychological interventions that inte-
grate treatment, rehabilitation, and support services. 
(7) According to the Bureau of Justice Statis-
tics, as of July 1999, 75 percent of mentally ill in-
mates had previously been sentenced at least once to 
time in prison or jail or probation. 
(8) Collaborative programs between mental 
health, substance abuse, and criminal or juvenile 
justice systems that ensure the provision of services 
for those with mental illness or co-occurring mental 
illness and substance abuse disorders can reduce the 
number of such individuals in adult and juvenile cor-
rections facilities, while providing improved public 
safety. 
SEC. 3. PURPOSE. 
The purpose of this Act is to increase public safety 
by facilitating collaboration among the criminal justice, ju-
venile justice, mental health treatment, and substance 
abuse systems. Such collaboration is needed to— 
(1) reduce rearrests among adult and juvenile 
offenders with mental illness, or co-occurring mental 
illness and substance abuse disorders; 
(2) provide courts, including existing and new 
mental health courts, with appropriate mental health 
and substance abuse treatment options;
(3) maximize the use of alternatives to prosecu-
tion through diversion in appropriate cases involving 
non-violent offenders with mental illness; 
(4) promote adequate training for criminal jus-
tice system personnel about mental illness and sub-
stance abuse disorders and the appropriate response 
to people with such illnesses; 
(5) promote adequate training for mental health 
treatment personnel about criminal offenders with 
mental illness and the appropriate response to such 
offenders in the criminal justice system; and 
(6) promote communication between criminal 
justice or juvenile justice personnel, mental health 
treatment personnel, nonviolent offenders with men-
tal illness, and other support services such as hous-
ing, job placement, community, and faith-based or-
ganizations.
SEC. 4. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE MENTAL HEALTH AND 
CRIMINAL JUSTICE COLLABORATION PRO-
GRAM. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Title I of the Omnibus Crime 
Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3711 
et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(4) DIVERSION.—The term ‘diversion’ means 
the appropriate use of effective mental health treat-
ment alternatives to juvenile justice or criminal jus-
tice system institutional placements for adult offend-
ers with severe and persistent mental illness or juve-
nile offenders with serious mental or emotional dis-
orders. 
‘‘(5) MENTAL
HEALTH
AGENCY.—The term 
‘mental health agency’ means an agency of a State 
or local government that is responsible for mental 
health services. 
‘‘(6) MENTAL
HEALTH
COURT.—The term 
‘mental health court’ means a judicial program that 
meets the requirements of part V of this title. 
‘‘(7) MENTAL ILLNESS.—The term ‘mental ill-
ness’ means a diagnosable mental, behavioral, or 
emotional disorder—
‘‘(A) of sufficient duration to meet diag-
nostic criteria within the most recent edition of 
the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Men-
tal Disorders published by the American Psy-
chiatric Association; and 
‘‘(B) that has resulted in functional im-
pairment that substantially interferes with or 
limits 1 or more major life activities;
‘‘(8) PRELIMINARILY QUALIFIED OFFENDER.—
The term ‘preliminarily qualified offender’ means an 
adult or juvenile who—
‘‘(A)(i) previously or currently has been di-
agnosed by a qualified mental health profes-
sional as having a mental illness or co-occurring 
mental illness and substance abuse disorders; or 
‘‘(ii) manifests obvious signs of mental ill-
ness or co-occurring mental illness and sub-
stance abuse disorders during arrest or confine-
ment or before any court; and 
‘‘(B) has faced or is facing criminal 
charges and is deemed eligible by a designated 
pretrial screening and diversion process, or by 
a magistrate or judge. 
‘‘(9) SECRETARY.—The term ‘Secretary’ means 
the Secretary of the Department of Health and 
Human Services. 
‘‘(10) UNIT
OF
LOCAL
GOVERNMENT.—The 
term ‘unit of local government’ means any city, 
county, township, town, borough, parish, village, or 
other general purpose political subdivision of a 
State, including a State court, local court, or a gov-
ernmental agency located within a city, county, 
township, town, borough, parish, or village.
‘‘(b) PLANNING AND IMPLEMENTATION GRANTS.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General, in 
consultation with the Secretary, may award non-
renewable grants to eligible applicants to prepare a 
comprehensive plan for and implement an adult or 
juvenile collaboration program, which targets adults 
or juveniles with mental illness or co-occurring men-
tal illness and substance abuse disorders in order to 
promote public safety and public health. 
‘‘(2) PURPOSES.—Grants awarded under this 
section shall be used to create or expand—
‘‘(A) mental health courts; 
‘‘(B) programs that offer specialized train-
ing to the officers and employees of a criminal 
or juvenile justice agency and mental health
personnel in procedures for identifying the 
symptoms of mental illness and co-occurring 
mental illness and substance abuse disorders in 
order to respond appropriately to individuals 
with such illnesses; and 
‘‘(C) programs that support cooperative ef-
forts by criminal and juvenile justice agencies 
and mental health agencies to promote public 
safety by offering mental health treatment serv-
ices and, where appropriate, substance abuse 
treatment services for— 
‘‘(i) preliminarily qualified offenders 
with mental illness or co-occurring mental 
illness and substance abuse disorders; 
‘‘(ii) juveniles and adults with mental 
illness for whom diversion is appropriate; 
or 
‘‘(iii) adult offenders with mental ill-
ness during periods of incarceration, while 
under the supervision of a criminal justice 
agency, or following release from correc-
tional facilities. 
‘‘(3) APPLICATIONS.—
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—To receive a planning 
grant or an implementation grant, the joint ap-
plicants shall prepare and submit a single appli-
cation to the Attorney General at such time, in 
such manner, and containing such information 
as the Attorney General and the Secretary shall 
reasonably require. An application under part V 
of this title may be made in conjunction with an 
application under this section. 
‘‘(B) COMBINED
PLANNING
AND
IMPLE-
MENTATION GRANT APPLICATION.—The Attor-
ney General shall develop a procedure under 
which applicants may apply at the same time 
and in a single application for a planning grant 
and an implementation grant, with receipt of 
the implementation grant conditioned on suc-
cessful completion of the activities funded by 
the planning grant. 
‘‘(4) PLANNING GRANTS.—
‘‘(A) APPLICATION.—The joint applicants 
may apply to the Attorney General for a non-
renewable planning grant to develop a collabo-
ration program. 
‘‘(B) CONTENTS.—The Attorney General 
may not approve a planning grant unless the 
application for the grant includes or provides, 
at a minimum, for a budget and a budget jus-
tification, a description of the outcome meas-
ures that will be used to measure the effective-
ness of the program in promoting public safety 
and public health, the activities proposed (in-
cluding the provision of substance abuse treat-
ment services, where appropriate) and a sched-
ule for completion of such activities, and the 
personnel necessary to complete such activities.
‘‘(C) PERIOD
OF
GRANT.—A planning 
grant shall be effective for a period of 1 year, 
beginning on the first day of the month in 
which the planning grant is made. Applicants 
may not receive more than 1 such planning 
grant. 
‘‘(D) AMOUNT.—The amount of a plan-
ning grant may not exceed $75,000, except that 
the Attorney General may, for good cause, ap-
prove a grant in a higher amount. 
‘‘(5) IMPLEMENTATION GRANTS.—
‘‘(A) APPLICATION.—Joint applicants that 
have prepared a planning grant application may 
apply to the Attorney General for approval of a 
nonrenewable implementation grant to develop 
a collaboration program. 
‘‘(B) COLLABORATION.—To receive an im-
plementation grant, the joint applicants shall—
‘‘(i) document that at least 1 criminal 
or juvenile justice agency (which can in-
clude a mental health court) and 1 mental 
health agency will participate in the ad-
ministration of the collaboration program; 
‘‘(ii) describe the responsibilities of 
each participating agency, including how
that is targeted for the collaboration 
program; and 
‘‘(II) develop guidelines that can 
be used by personnel of a criminal or 
juvenile justice agency to identify indi-
viduals with mental illness or co-oc-
curring mental illness and substance 
abuse disorders. 
‘‘(ii) SERVICES.—Applicants for an 
implementation grant shall—
‘‘(I) ensure that offenders with 
mental illness who are to receive serv-
ices under the collaboration program 
will first receive individualized, needs-
based assessments to determine, plan,
and coordinate the most appropriate 
services for such individuals; 
‘‘(II) specify plans for making 
mental 
health 
treatment 
services 
available and accessible to mentally ill 
offenders at the time of their release 
from the criminal justice system, in-
cluding outside of normal business 
hours;
‘‘(III) ensure that mentally ill of-
fenders served by the collaboration 
program will have access to commu-
nity-based mental health services, 
such as crisis intervention, case man-
agement, assertive community treat-
ment, medications, medication man-
agement, psychiatric rehabilitation, 
peer support, or, where appropriate, 
integrated substance abuse treatment 
services; 
‘‘(IV) make available, to the ex-
tent practicable, individualized mental 
health treatment services, other sup-
port services (such as housing, edu-
cation, job placement, mentoring, or 
health care), benefits (such as dis-
ability income, disability insurance, 
and medicaid, where appropriate), and 
the services of faith-based and com-
munity organizations for mentally ill 
individuals served by the collaboration 
program; and 
‘‘(V) include strategies to address 
developmental and learning disabilities
and problems arising from a docu-
mented history of physical or sexual 
abuse, if the population targeted for 
the collaboration program includes ju-
veniles with mental illness. 
‘‘(D) HOUSING
AND
JOB
PLACEMENT.—
Recipients of an implementation grant may use 
grant funds to assist mentally ill offenders com-
pliant with the program in seeking housing or 
employment assistance. 
‘‘(E) POLICIES AND PROCEDURES.—Appli-
cants for an implementation grant shall strive 
to ensure prompt access to defense counsel by 
criminal defendants with mental illness who are 
facing charges that would trigger a constitu-
tional right to counsel. 
‘‘(F) FINANCIAL.—Applicants for an im-
plementation grant shall—
‘‘(i) explain the applicant’s inability to 
fund the collaboration program adequately 
without Federal assistance; 
‘‘(ii) specify how the Federal support 
provided will be used to supplement, and 
not supplant, State, local, Indian tribe, or 
tribal organization sources of funding that
would otherwise be available, including bill-
ing third-party resources for services al-
ready covered under programs (such as 
medicaid, medicare, and the State Chil-
dren’s Insurance Program); and 
‘‘(iii) outline plans for obtaining nec-
essary support and continuing the pro-
posed collaboration program following the 
conclusion of Federal support. 
‘‘(G) OUTCOMES.—Applicants for an im-
plementation grant shall—
‘‘(i) identify methodology and outcome 
measures, as required by the Attorney 
General and the Secretary, to be used in 
evaluating the effectiveness of the collabo-
ration program; 
‘‘(ii) ensure mechanisms are in place 
to capture data, consistent with the meth-
odology and outcome measures under 
clause (i); and 
‘‘(iii) submit specific agreements from 
affected agencies to provide the data need-
ed by the Attorney General and the Sec-
retary to accomplish the evaluation under 
clause (i).
‘‘(H) STATE
PLANS.—Applicants for an 
implementation grant shall describe how the 
adult or juvenile collaboration program relates 
to existing State criminal or juvenile justice and 
mental health plans and programs. 
‘‘(I) USE OF FUNDS.—Applicants that re-
ceive an implementation grant may use funds 
for 1 or more of the following purposes: 
‘‘(i) MENTAL
HEALTH
COURTS
AND 
DIVERSION.—Funds may be used to create 
or expand existing mental health courts 
that meet program requirements estab-
lished by the Attorney General under part 
V of this title or diversion programs (in-
cluding crisis intervention teams and treat-
ment accountability services for commu-
nities) that meet requirements established 
by the Attorney General and the Secretary. 
‘‘(ii) TRAINING.—Funds may be used 
to create or expand programs, such as cri-
sis intervention training, which offer spe-
cialized training to—
‘‘(I) criminal justice system per-
sonnel to identify and respond appro-
priately to the unique needs of an
adult or juvenile with mental illness or 
co-occurring mental illness and sub-
stance abuse disorders; or 
‘‘(II) mental health system per-
sonnel to respond appropriately to the 
treatment needs of criminal offenders 
with mental illness or co-occurring 
mental illness and substance abuse 
disorders. 
‘‘(iii) 
SERVICE
DELIVERY.—Funds 
may be used to create or expand local 
treatment programs that promote public 
safety by serving individuals with mental 
illness or co-occurring mental illness and 
substance abuse disorders.
‘‘(iv) 
IN-JAIL
AND
TRANSITIONAL 
SERVICES.—Funds may be used to pro-
mote and provide mental health treatment 
for those incarcerated or for transitional 
re-entry programs for those released from 
any penal or correctional institution. 
‘‘(J) GEOGRAPHIC
DISTRIBUTION.—The 
Attorney General, in consultation with the Sec-
retary, shall ensure that implementation grants 
are equitably distributed among the geo-
graphical regions of the United States and be-
tween urban and rural populations. 
‘‘(c) PRIORITY.—The Attorney General, in awarding 
funds under this section, shall give priority to applications 
that—
‘‘(1) demonstrate the strongest commitment to 
ensuring that such funds are used to promote both 
public health and public safety; 
‘‘(2) demonstrate the active participation of 
each co-applicant in the administration of the col-
laboration program; and 
‘‘(3) have the support of both the Attorney 
General and the Secretary. 
‘‘(d) MATCHING REQUIREMENTS.—
‘‘(1) FEDERAL SHARE.—The Federal share of 
the cost of a collaboration program carried out by a 
State, unit of local government, Indian tribe, or trib-
al organization under this section shall not exceed—
‘‘(A) 80 percent of the total cost of the 
program during the first 2 years of the grant; 
‘‘(B) 60 percent of the total cost of the 
program in year 3; and 
‘‘(C) 25 percent of the total cost of the 
program in years 4 and 5.
‘‘(2) NON-FEDERAL SHARE.—The non-Federal 
share of payments made under this section may be 
made in cash or in-kind fairly evaluated, including 
planned equipment or services. 
‘‘(e) FEDERAL USE OF FUNDS.—The Attorney Gen-
eral, in consultation with the Secretary, in administering 
grants under this section, may use up to 3 percent of 
funds appropriated to—
‘‘(1) research the use of alternatives to prosecu-
tion through pretrial diversion in appropriate cases 
involving individuals with mental illness; 
‘‘(2) offer specialized training to personnel of 
criminal and juvenile justice agencies in appropriate 
diversion techniques; 
‘‘(3) provide technical assistance to local gov-
ernments, mental health courts, and diversion pro-
grams, including technical assistance relating to pro-
gram evaluation; 
‘‘(4) help localities build public understanding 
and support for community reintegration of individ-
uals with mental illness; 
‘‘(5) develop a uniform program evaluation 
process; and
‘‘(6) conduct a national evaluation of the col-
laboration program that will include an assessment 
of its cost-effectiveness. 
‘‘(f) INTERAGENCY TASK FORCE.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General and 
the Secretary shall establish an interagency task 
force with the Secretaries of Housing and Urban 
Development, Labor, Education, and Veterans Af-
fairs and the Commissioner of Social Security, or 
their designees. 
‘‘(2) RESPONSIBILITIES.—The task force estab-
lished under paragraph (1) shall—
‘‘(A) identify policies within their depart-
ments which hinder or facilitate local collabo-
rative initiatives for adults or juveniles with 
mental illness or co-occurring mental illness and 
substance abuse disorders; and 
‘‘(B) submit, not later than 2 years after 
the date of enactment of this section, a report 
to Congress containing recommendations for 
improved interdepartmental collaboration re-
garding the provision of services to adults and 
juveniles with mental illness or co-occurring 
mental illness and substance abuse disorders.
‘‘(g) MINIMUM ALLOCATION.—Unless all eligible ap-
plications submitted by any State or unit of local govern-
ment within such State for a planning or implementation 
grant under this section have been funded, such State, to-
gether with grantees within the State (other than Indian 
tribes), shall be allocated in each fiscal year under this 
section not less than 0.75 percent of the total amount ap-
propriated in the fiscal year for planning or implementa-
tion grants pursuant to this section. 
‘‘(h) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 
are authorized to be appropriated to the Department of 
Justice to carry out this section—
‘‘(1) $100,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2003 
and 2004; and 
‘‘(2) such sums as may be necessary for fiscal 
years 2005 through 2007.’’. 
(b) LIST
OF ‘‘BEST PRACTICES’’.—The Attorney 
General, in consultation with the Secretary of Health and 
Human Services, shall develop a list of ‘‘best practices’’ 
for appropriate diversion from incarceration of adult and 
juvenile offenders. 
(c) TECHNICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 
of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets 
Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3711 et seq.) is amended by add-
ing at the end the following:
‘‘PART HH—ADULT AND JUVENILE COLLABORATION PROGRAM GRANTS 
‘‘Sec. 2991. Adult and juvenile collaboration programs.’’.
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