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.
Beyond Jails: Community-Based Strategies for Public Safety
Publication Date: Nov 01 2021
Vera Institute of Justice
For decades, the United States has responded to social issues like mental health and substance use crises, chronic homelessness, and ongoing cycles of interpersonal violence with jail. This has disrupted the lives of millions of people—disproportionately harming Black and Indigenous people—without improving public safety. There’s a better way. Communities can instead invest in agencies and organizations that address these issues outside the criminal legal system. The proven solutions highlighted in this multimedia report look beyond jails to promote safe and thriving communities.
Advisory: Treating Patients with Traumatic Brain Injury
Publication Date: Sep 01 2021
SAMHSA
This Advisory is an update to the SMA10-4591, Vol. 9 Issue 2, published in 2010. The advisory summarizes key elements of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), and describes its relevance to behavioral health, including recommendations for behavioral health professionals.
National Mental Health Services Survey (N-MHSS): 2019, Data On Mental Health Treatment Facilities
Publication Date: Aug 13 2020
SAMHSA
This report presents findings from the 2019 National Mental Health Services Survey (N-MHSS), an annual census of all known facilities in the United States, both public and private, that provide mental health treatment services to people with mental illness. Planned and directed by the Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality (CBHSQ) of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the N-MHSS is designed to collect data on the location, characteristics, and utilization of organized mental health treatment services for facilities within the scope of the survey throughout the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and other jurisdictions.
Identifying Needs Related to Managing Seriously Mentally Ill Individuals in Corrections
Publication Date: Jul 20 2020
National Institute of Justice (NIJ)
Experts identified and prioritized a total of 47 needs across the six subject areas that can inform future research and practice. In assessing the relative importance of each of the six areas, they identified two needs areas as having the highest importance: community-based treatment and reentry coordination and relapse prevention.
Health Risk Behaviors and Resilience Among Low-Income, Black Primary Care Patients
Publication Date: Jul 01 2020
National Library of Medicine
This study describes an intervention with low-income, Black primary care patients and their experience in changing a health risk behavior. Participant themes, including behavioral coping, personal values, accomplishments and strengths, barriers and strategies, and social support, are understood in relationship to health behavior theories
How Have States Addressed Behavioral Health Needs through the Justice Reinvestment Initiative?
Publication Date: Jan 31 2020
Urban Institute
People with behavioral health disorders are overrepresented in the criminal justice system, which is often ill-equipped to meet their needs. In this brief, we highlight strategies states engaged in the Justice Reinvestment Initiative have used to better respond to people with behavioral health disorders, including improving identification of people with these disorders, enhancing diversion mechanisms, expanding treatment, and improving supervision practices.
Challenges and Opportunities to Meet the Mental Health Needs of Underserved and Disenfranchised Populations in the United States
Publication Date: Jan 24 2020
The Journal of Lifelong Learning in Psychiatry
This article investigates the gap in access to and quality of mental health care in the United States. This work first discusses how minority populations are most affected by the treatment gap. It summarizes recent literature on the topic for better understanding the needs of psychiatrically underserved and disenfranchised populations and the causes of mental health disparities. It reviews some of the barriers to behavioral health care, including lack of insurance coverage, lack of community-based interventions, unequal access to evidence-based practices, stigma, mental health workforce shortages, and geographical maldistribution of providers. Second, it reviews opportunities to address these disparities. The article provides examples of effective interventions that researchers worldwide have already implemented to address the gap of mental health services within the collaborative care model and global mental health initiatives. Telepsychiatry and improvements in training of the mental health workforce are also listed as useful implementations to overcome the treatment gap for patients seeking mental health care.