Abstract
BackgroundMental health courts were created to help criminal defendants who have a mental illness that significantly contributes to their criminal offense. Despite the increasing number of mental health courts around the world, data about their effectiveness have only begun to emerge in the past decade. The purpose of this systematic literature review is to assess the current evidence on the effectiveness of mental health courts. Specifically, this review will address the question, “How effective are mental health courts in reducing recidivism and police contact?”Methods/designEight electronic databases will be searched, specifically PsycINFO, Medline, Medline In-Process, Embase, Web of Science, CINAHL, Social Work s, and Criminal Justice s. A multi-phase screening process will be used to identify relevant search hits. Articles that pass the three-stage screening process will then be assessed for risk of bias and have their reference lists hand searched. Full-text articles that are rated to have low to moderate risk of bias will be summarized into two tables, one containing a brief description of the study and the other reporting the results of relevant outcomes measured.DiscussionBy synthesizing the results of the studies, this systematic review will help illuminate gaps in the literature, direct future research, and inform policy makers.Systematic review registrationPROSPERO CRD42016036084
Highlights
Mental health courts were created to help criminal defendants who have a mental illness that significantly contributes to their criminal offense
Mental health court diversion programs are characterized by three key components: screening, assessment, and negotiation between court diversion and criminal justice staff [4]
The last component involves court diversion staff negotiating with prosecutors, defense attorneys, the courts, and community-based mental health providers to work towards having charges reduced or even waived [4]
Summary
In the mid-1990s, courts across Canada and the USA reported significant increases in the number of defendants with mental illness entering the criminal court system [1, 2]. Purpose of systematic review The purpose of this systematic review of the literature is to look at the current evidence on the effectiveness of mental health courts in reducing client rearrest rates and contact with police. This systematic review will report on the current evidence on the effectiveness of mental health courts by collecting data on peer-reviewed studies up until February 2016. The following eligibility criteria will be used to screen for relevant peer-reviewed articles: 1. Study selection A multi-phase screening process will be used to identify relevant search hits using the eligibility criteria mentioned previously. The reference lists of all accepted studies will be hand searched Articles identified through this process will be subjected to the same multi-phase screening process described previously using the same eligibility criteria.
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