Mental Health Court Programs in Rural and Nonaffluent Jurisdictions

• Date: 01 September 2008
• Author: Stephen S. Goss
• DOI: 10.1177/0734016808320327
• Published date: 01 September 2008
• Subject Matter: Articles

Mental Health Court Programs in

Rural and Nonaffluent Jurisdictions

Stephen S. Goss

Superior Courts of Georgia, Albany

Due to the shift in emphasis from institutional care to community-based treatment for men-

tally ill patients, many end up in marginal lifestyle situations probably due to lack of funds,

strained family and other supports, and no case management. Many do not consistently take

their prescriptions or “self-medicate” with alcohol or street drugs. When off their prescription

therapy, many of these patients act out. They are arrested, placed in jail, and enter the crimi-

nal justice system. Due to their unresolved mental health issues, they get caught in a cyclical

pattern of arrests. Our jails have become de facto mental health treatment centers. These cases

are crowding court dockets and are filling the jails and state hospitals at taxpayers’ expense.

The jails should not be community mental health centers. Mental health court programs are

responding to these issues. Success is measured by decreased arrests and mental hospital stays,

and the overall well-being of such patients.

Keywords: mental health courts

Our jails have become the de facto mental health treatment centers for many persons in

this population. Their cases are crowding the court dockets, and are filling the jails at

taxpayers’ expense. These costs include per diem bed spaces in the jails and state mental

hospitals, prescription costs, indigent medical and legal costs, and aid to dependent chil-

dren. The jails are not, and should not be, mental health centers.

Financial and treatment professional shortages are major issues in rural and nonaffluent

jurisdictions. The author, a general jurisdiction trial judge in rural southwest Georgia,

started Georgia’s first felony mental health court in a resource poor area of the state. This

program is one of five national learning sites for mental health courts as selected by the

United States Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Assistance and the Council of State

Governments. The article discusses how these mental health programs can succeed in rural

and nonaffluent jurisdictions with proper planning and coordination of existing state, local,

and private treatment and housing programs. Success is measured by decreased arrests, in-

patient mental health hospital stays, and overall well-being of the mentally ill probationer.

Courts across the country struggle with offenders suffering from chronic mental health

problems and co-occurring substance abuse disorders. In rural and nonmetropolitan juris-

dictions, these high maintenance cases stretch already thin budgets and treatment

resources.1The lack of resources can discourage judges and court staff from seeking alter-

native solutions. Mental health court programs can succeed in these jurisdictions with plan-

ning, identification, and coordination of existing resources and treatment options.

405

Criminal Justice Review

Volume 33 Number 3

September 2008 405-413

© 2008 Georgia State University

Research Foundation, Inc.

10.1177/0734016808320327

http://cjr.sagepub.com

hosted at

http://online.sagepub.com

Author’s Note: Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Stephen S. Goss, PO Box 1827,

Albany GA 31702; e-mail: judgestevegoss@bellsouth.net.

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