Department of Mental Health
E. Douglas Varney, Commissioner

Office of Criminal Justice Services

Criminal Justice and Mental Health Interface

The Criminal Justice & Mental Health Office provides the interface between criminal justice and mental health services by:

• Promoting policies that will decriminalize mental illness
• Facilitating the process of developing and maintaining relationships between the criminal justice and mental health services systems to achieve common goals
• Seeking resources for establishing services to divert persons with mental illness from the criminal justice system to the mental health service system
• Providing technical assistance to communities on identifying and developing systems that promote diverting persons with mental illness from the criminal justice system to the mental health services system
• Participating in state and local activities to address the needs of persons with mental illness who are involved in the criminal justice system
• Developing and maintaining training curriculum for personnel in the criminal justice and mental health systems