| Mentally Ill
Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Act of 2004
10/30/2004--Public Law
Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Act of 2004
- Amends the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968
to authorize the Attorney General to award grants to eligible State
and local governments and Indian tribes and organizations to plan
and implement programs that: (1) promote public safety by ensuring
access to mental health and other treatment services for mentally
ill adults or juveniles; and (2) are overseen cooperatively by a
criminal justice agency, juvenile justice agency, or mental health
court and a mental health agency (collaboration programs). Requires
such programs to target nonviolent adults or juveniles who: (1)
have been diagnosed as having a mental illness or co-occurring mental
illness and substance abuse disorders or who manifest obvious signs
of such an illness or disorder during arrest or confinement or before
any court; and (2) face criminal charges and are deemed eligible
on the ground that the commission of the offense is the product
of the person's mental illness.
Directs that grants be used to create or expand: (1) mental health
courts or other court-based programs for such persons; (2) programs
that offer specialized training to criminal or juvenile justice
agency officers and employees and mental health personnel in identifying
symptoms in order to respond appropriately to individuals with mental
illnesses; (3) programs that support cooperative efforts by criminal,
juvenile justice, and mental health agencies to promote public safety
by offering mental health and substance abuse treatment services;
and (4) programs that support intergovernmental cooperation between
State and local governments with respect to the mentally ill offender.
Requires the Attorney General and the Secretary of Health and Human
Services to: (1) develop a procedure for applying simultaneously
for a planning grant and an implementation grant; and (2) establish
an interagency task force to identify policies which hinder or facilitate
local collaborative initiatives for such offenders. Directs the
Attorney General to develop a list of best practices for appropriate
diversion from incarceration of adult and juvenile offenders.
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