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Justice Library

Use the navigation on the left to browse our library of criminal justice resources by topic. Use categories to filter your results.

Please note that the resources within the Justice Library are not endorsed by NAMI and that the resources listed are not inclusive of all of the resources available on the topic.

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Tips for Successfully Implementing a 911 Dispatch Diversion Program

Publication Date: Oct 01 2021

CSG

A diversion model showing great promise across the U.S. is 911 dispatch diversion, sometimes called crisis call diversion. The approach aims to reduce unnecessary police contact by connecting people to mental health professionals when someone contacts 911 due to a behavioral health crisis or other health or social service need. This brief outlines four tips for successfully implementing 911 dispatch diversion in a community.
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Building exits off the highway to mass incarceration: Diversion programs explained

Publication Date: Jul 20 2021

Prison Policy Initiative

The landscape of diversion is vast, and the design and implementation of each program matters.
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Collaborative Court and Community Diversion for Individuals with Behavioral Health Needs

Publication Date: Jun 21 2021

National Center for State Courts

Justices and Conference of State Court Administrators National Judicial Task Force to Examine State Court’s Response to Mental Illness conducted a survey to create a picture of the national landscape regarding adult behavioral health diversions and practices available in each state.
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Assessing the Impact of Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD): A Review of Research

Publication Date: Mar 01 2021

Center for Police Research and Policy

The Best Practice Guide reviews available research on the delivery and impact of police, behavioral health (BH), disability, and community responses to BH and intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD)-related crisis incidents. The chapters of this guide present information on existing response models, identify evidence-informed best practices, and outline key lessons for the development and delivery of crisis response programs designed after these models.
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Practical Advice on Jail Diversion

Publication Date: Jan 01 2021

INC., Policy Research Associates

This publication can be used as a guide for interested community members who want to know how to design, plan, implement, and evaluate a successful jail diversion program. Whether you are a case manager in a community mental health center, a substance use disorder counselor, a jail mental health practitioner, a cop who walks a beat, a prosecuting attorney, a local judge, a consumer, or a family member, you will want to read this publication if you are leading development of a jail diversion program in your community or hope to do so. 
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Behavioral Health Diversion Interventions: Moving from Individual Programs to a Systems-Wide Strategy

Publication Date: Oct 01 2019

CSG

This publication is intended to provide these local leaders with a systems-level conceptual framework for developing a continuum of behavioral health diversion interventions that span the community’s criminal justice system—starting from first contact with law enforcement through incarceration
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Approaches to Early Jail Diversion: Collaborations and Innovations

Publication Date: Jul 01 2019

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

The purpose of this study was fourfold: (1) Better understand state and local pre-booking jail diversion interventions for people with SMI, SUDs, and co-occurring disorders (CODs), (2) Investigate and contribute to the knowledge base on Intercept 0 of the SIM, (3) Assess how these interventions may inform broader federal policy, including new authorities in the 21st Century Cures Act, Medicaid, and the Administration’s efforts to address the opioid epidemic. (4) Identify potential Intercept 0 and 1 programs for evaluation.
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Police-Mental Health Collaborations: A Framework for Implementing Effective Law Enforcement Responses for People Who Have Mental Health Needs

Publication Date: Apr 01 2019

The Council of State Governments Justice Center

A publication intended to help jurisdictions advance comprehensive, agency-wide responses to people who have mental illnesses. These responses feature cross-system collaborations between the criminal justice and behavioral health systems. The framework is organized around six main questions that law enforcement executives should consider to be successful in implementing or improving police-mental health collaborations (PMHCs) in their jurisdiction.
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Seattle’s Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD): Program Effects on Criminal Justice and Legal System Utilization and Costs

Publication Date: Mar 19 2019

Journal of Experimental Criminology

The Criminal Justice and Legal System Utilization and Associated Costs Report tests the effectiveness of the LEAD® program compared to the ‘system‐as-usual’ control condition in reducing publicly funded legal and criminal justice service utilization and associated costs (i.e., prosecution, public defense, jail, prison) prior and subsequent to evaluation entry.

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Principles of Community-based Behavioral Health Services for Justice-involved Individuals: A Research-based Guide

Publication Date: Mar 01 2019

SAMHSA

This guide provides information and practices that behavioral health providers can implement in their daily practice with patients or clients who are involved in the criminal justice system. 
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Sequential Intercept Model Trifold Brochure

Publication Date: Jan 01 2019

SAMHSA

The Sequential Intercept Model is most effective when used as a community strategic planning tool to assess available resources, determine gaps in services, and plan for community change. These activities are best accomplished by a team of stakeholders that cross over multiple systems, including mental health, substance use, law enforcement, pretrial services, courts, jails, community corrections, housing, health, social services, people with lived experiences, family members, and many others
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Data Collection Across the Sequential Intercept Model: Essential Measures

Publication Date: Jan 01 2019

SAMHSA

This manual provides a starting place for jurisdictions looking to use data to better understand and improve the outcomes of people with mental and/or substance use disorders who come into contact with the criminal justice system. 
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