D70C01A096D42C97872582CD006D3120 Hearing Summary

Brenidy Rice, State Court Administrator's Office, presented to the committee on mental health courts.  She explained that there are seven mental health courts across the state and they are discretionary, not mandatory.

Ms. Rice described the target population for mental health courts, which are persons with higher level offenses and criminal history with a high risk of recidivism and high need for services.  She noted that participation can last from 12 to 24 months, and program completion and recidivism is tracked.

Ms. Rice summarized Senate Bill 18-249 to the committee, which creates a pre-file diversion model pilot program in four sites across the state.  She described how the pilot program will work and noted that the participants will likely be lower level offenders.

Ms. Rice provided an update on selection of the pilot sites for Senate Bill 18-249.  She responded to questions on recidivism rate for problem solving courts and the timeline for the pilot program.