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mental health courts  

Definition

  • Mental health courts are specialty criminal courts with a separate docket to deal with mentally ill persons, who are disproportionately arrested and incarcerated. Established by local court and criminal justice officials who recognized that traditional prosecution and punishment were not effective deterrents with this population, these courts divert mentally ill defendants into community treatment with services to reduce repeat offending, jail and prison crowding, court workload, and criminal justice costs. [Source: Encyclopedia of Psychology and Law; Mental Health Courts]

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https://concepts.sagepub.com/social-science/concept/mental_health_courts

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