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The
Council of State Governments Justice Center
released two guides on the rights of crime victims whose
cases involve a person with a mental illness. Both were
supported by the Office for Victims of Crime, Office of
Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice.
Responding to People Who Have
Been Victimized by Individuals with Mental Illnesses
is the first national publication on this topic. According
to the guide, when individuals accused of a crime are found
“not guilty by reason of insanity” or are court-ordered to
receive treatment in a mental health facility, their victims
may not receive the same rights to notification and
participation as other victims in the criminal justice
system. After these individuals are transferred to mental
health facilities, criminal justice professionals may not be
able to assist victims because they no longer have direct
access to relevant case information. And mental health
system workers often lack clear legal authority and
direction on who is responsible for serving these victims.
They also must comply with strict confidentiality
regulations related to the accused receiving treatment in a
mental health facility. The guide details steps
policymakers, advocates, mental health professionals and
others can take to understand and protect the rights and
safety of these crime victims.
A Guide to the
Role of Crime Victims in Mental Health Courts
offers practical recommendations to mental health court
practitioners about how to engage crime victims in case
proceedings. The guide asserts that the rights due victims
in criminal court proceedings are not always made available
to individuals who are victimized by people accepted into
mental health courts, mostly because of confusion about
medical privacy compliance. Mental health courts lack
preliminary hearings, witness testimony and motion hearings
that are found in criminal court proceedings. The guide
outlines how standard rights adhered to in these proceedings
can be adapted for mental health court operations. In
addition to recommending collaborative strategies for
notifying victims about changes in case status and involving
them in appropriate proceedings, the guide provides examples
of how some mental health and other specialty courts have
addressed crime victims’ needs in Alaska, Arizona,
California, Illinois, Missouri, New Mexico, New York and
Wisconsin. For more information about both publications,
visit
www.justicecenter.csg.org/media/press_releases.
The Office of Juvenile
Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) has published
Juvenile
Transfer Laws: An Effective Deterrent to Delinquency?
In an effort to strengthen sanctions for serious juvenile
crimes, most states enacted laws expanding the types of
offenders and offenses eligible for transfer from juvenile
courts to adult criminal courts. This bulletin provides an
overview of research on the deterrent effects of such
transfers, focusing on OJJDP-funded studies on the effect of
transfer laws on recidivism. The information it provides
should help inform public discussion and policy decisions.
The bulletin is available online at
http://ojjdp.ncjrs.gov/publications/PubAbstract.asp?pubi=242419.
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