Mental Health Court Overview

One of fewer than a dozen such courts nationwide; the Mental Health Court (MHC) is a dedicated court, with an assigned presiding judge, mental health professional, and probation staff with mental health expertise, prosecutor and public defender.

The Goals of the Mental Health Court are to:

• Protect public safety
• Reduce the use of jail and repeated interaction with the criminal justice system for mentally ill persons
• Connect or reconnect mentally ill persons with needed mental health services
• Improve their likelihood of ongoing success with treatment, their access to housing or shelter, and linkages with other critical support

The key issue for the MHC is whether the alleged criminal activity is related to or caused by mental illness. MHC defendants may have any type of charge, except Driving Under the Influence, presently excluded because of the way in which those sentencing obligations are currently supervised. They may have any type of serious mental illness, be developmentally disabled, have a brain injury, or suffer from dementia. The defendant may be a first time offender or have a lengthy record.

Cases involving mentally ill defendants who choose to participate in the MHC are diverted from the regular court process and handled in this special court, whether at first appearance, pre-trial stage or probation review. Whatever obligations a defendant has in the Seattle Municipal Court are then all handled in the MHC. Staff throughout the Court have been trained, and a protocol is in place, to ensure that once a mentally ill defendant opts into the MHC, if the sentencing judge approves transfer, all new or existing cases, fines, restitution, or any other obligation, are handled in the MHC.

Upon being booked into jail, if a defendant consents to a release of information, the MHC's mental health staff immediately (within hours) learns about his or her history in the mental health system, checks on medication compliance, housing, family support, and language needs. Additional information about other pending criminal cases is quickly gathered. If the defendant is not enrolled in the mental health system, that process is immediately initiated by arranging an intake appointment. If the defendant is already enrolled, the case manager is contacted, notified of the arrest, and can help provide information to the MHC staff on an appropriate treatment plan to be proposed to the MHC judge at the defendant's first appearance. That hearing will occur within 24 hours of booking into jail, and any other pending cases and obligations for the defendant will also be addressed.

MHC staff has assessed whether the defendant is an appropriate candidate for the MHC, and if so, proposes to the MHC judge an alternative to traditional handling of the cases that puts primary emphasis on the underlying mental health needs, emphasizing a "therapeutic jurisprudence" approach. In essence, this means that the usual adversary approach and focus on the criminal act is placed in the context of solutions that are designed to help the individual address the mental health concerns which lead to the behavior causing arrest, warrants or other difficulties.

If a resolution of the case is not immediate, conditions of release with a discharge plan and specific mental health treatment obligations are ordered, until the next hearing. These conditions also include such things as no contact orders, no weapons, no drinking and no violations of the law. If housing is not available, the MHC uses short term respite beds specifically set aside for this purpose at a nearby shelter. Since the defendant is quickly connected or reconnected with mental health services, shelter and support, he or she will not spend more time in jail because of his mental illness than other defendants booked on similar charges.

If the defendant is also in need of inpatient drug or alcohol treatment, and shows a desire to try, the MHC uses designated priority beds to get him or her quickly into treatment designed to address multiple needs, whenever space is available. If the defendant opts into the MHC and enters into a disposition of the case, he or she is engaged with the MHC for up to two years. This will include treatment obligations, and intensive monitoring by dedicated probation staff assigned to the MHC who have expertise in dealing with mentally ill offenders. That monitoring literally begins in the courtroom, where the MHC judge goes over the obligations with the defendant and introduces him or her to the probation counselor, who will work with the defendant throughout the duration of his participation in the MHC.

Review of the defendant's compliance, with the case manager's ongoing involvement, stays in the MHC for those two years, where the defendant's history, abilities and limitations are well known to the MHC judge, probation staff and attorneys. Review hearings are held as often as are needed to keep the defendant on track. The MHC will use a long term, defendant based, problem solving view of the best interests of the defendant, victims and the public.

If a defendant chooses not to participate in the MHC, but is an appropriate candidate, he or she may still be referred back at a later date. If a defendant is having a difficult time complying with probationary conditions imposed by a trial court, probation staff may recommend that his or her case[s] be transferred to the MHC for more specific obligations addressing his mental health needs and closer supervision.