2007 Mental Health Report

The Florida Supreme Court has issued a report entitled

Constructing a Comprehensive and Competent Criminal Justice/Mental Health/Substance Abuse Treatment System: Strategies for Planning, Leadership, Financing, and Service Development

To quote from the report:

"To effectively and efficiently address the most pressing needs currently facing the mental health system in Florida, it is recommended that the state invest in a redesigned and transformed system of care oriented around ensuring adequate access to appropriate prevention and treatment services in the community, minimizing unnecessary involvement of people with mental illnesses in the criminal justice system, and developing collaborative cross-systems relationships that will facilitate continuous, integrated service delivery across levels of care and treatment settings.
In this report, recommendations are made for the development of a comprehensive and competent mental health system which will prevent individuals from entering the justice system to begin with and will respond to individuals who do become involved in the justice system quickly and effectively to link them to appropriate services and prevent recidivism. By designing an appropriate and responsive system of care for individuals with serious mental illnesses, severe emotional disturbances, and/or co-occurring substance use disorders, people who otherwise would continue to recycle through the justice system will be served more effectively and efficiently. Public safety will be improved and the rate of individuals accessing more costly services in forensic mental health and criminal justice systems will be reduced."



The entire report is a pdf file that can be downloaded by clicking the link below:

2007MentalHealthReport.pdf