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August 2008
 Norfolk Mental Health Court Evaluation Study
The purpose of the evaluation was to assess the
extent to which the Norfolk, Virginia, Mental Health Court
(NMHC) had achieved its goals. The study was designed to answer the
following questions:
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Do program participants make use of therapeutic and social services
during their
enrollment in the program?
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Does participation in the program reduce the number of times that
persons with mental
illness and/or co-occurring disorders come in contact with the criminal
justice system?
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Does the program reduce the amount of time that persons with a mental
illness and/or co-occurring
disorders spend in jail?
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Does the program enhance effective interactions between the criminal
justice and mental
health systems?
The evaluation of the NMHC was designed as an
outcome evaluation that examined its effects
on offenders with mental health disorders. The progress of a cohort of
program participants was
followed for a period of 18 months, beginning July 2006 and ending
December 2007. A mixed method
approach was used to collect data to answer the evaluation questions.
Prior studies of
mental health courts and drug courts (which enroll offenders with similar
characteristics to those
enrolled in mental health courts) were reviewed to identify reliable
sources of data and data
collection methods.
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OPEN MINDS