Treatment Court is modeled after drug courts and developed in response to the over representation of people with mental illness in the criminal justice system, treatment courts divert select defendants with mental illness into judicially supervised, community-based treatment. Currently, all treatment courts are voluntary. Defendants are invited to participate in the treatment court following a specialized screening and assessment, and they may choose to decline participation. For those who agree to the terms and conditions of community-based supervision, a team of court staff, social services, and mental health professionals works together to develop treatment plans and supervise participants in the community. Participants typically appear at regular status hearings where incentives are offered to reward adherence to court conditions, sanctions for non-adherence are handed down, and treatment plans and other conditions are periodically reviewed for appropriateness. Completion (sometimes called graduation) is defined according to specific criteria (Council of State Governments, 2005).
