Mental Health Court Case Study

Recommended Changes Todd R. Clear (2004) expressed that “Good intentions do not matter and may in fact, be a detriment.” (Clear, 2004, p. 70) This can certainly be applied to issues in mental health courts that need to be addressed. Nancy Wolff, Nichole Fabrikant and Steven Belenko (2011) findings that mental health courts are shaped by formal and informal selection criteria is extremely problematic, informal selection criteria clearly suggests that an individual may be turned down in one mental health court and accepted in another which is completely unacceptable. Therefore, I recommend the enforcement of well thought-out formal selection criteria to all current and all upcoming mental health courts. This will eliminate any selection bias and ensure that all defendants meet the necessary criteria to attend mental health courts. Allison Redlich, Steven Hoover, Alicia Summers and Henry Steadman (2010) findings that a significant number of mental health court clients were not informed of the requirements for mental …show more content…
Mentally ill individuals not receiving treatment may commit minor offences with the goal of receiving treatment. Although, this may appear to be farfetched, it is certainly possible, therefore, this trade-off cannot be eliminated. Granting access for long term free access to group therapy sessions for offenders that successfully completed the program is rewarding offender’s treatment access that non-offenders may lack access to. Furthermore, granting access for long term free access to group therapy sessions for clients that were found not guilty is rewarding client’s treatment access that non-clients may lack access