National Program or Policy Advancement

CSG Justice Center staff asked about the observations with respect to people with mental illness in the criminal justice system, diversion from prosecution (for mostly nonviolent and victimless crimes), and law enforcement training. Staff also asked about recommendations written into the PA BH-CJ Policy Scan summary report. The key informant was, in general, supportive but believes that rights of victims should be at the forefront in policy discussions of mental health and did not believe that her staff have meaningful engagement with some committees in PA including MHJAC.

CSG Justice Center staff asked about the key informant's observations with respect to people with mental illness in the criminal justice system, diversion from prosecution (including arrest vs citation), and law enforcement training. Staff also specifically asked him about recommendations written into the PA BH-CJ Policy Scan summary report. The key informant was, in general, very supportive.

The CSG Justice Center staff working on the Stepping Up Pennsylvania Behavioral Health-Criminal Justice Policy Scan & Planning Project conducted a key informant interview with Julia Burke, Executive Director of the PA Defenders Association. The key informant delivered information to inform the policy scan as well as recommendations for the CSG Justice Center staff to consider including the policy scan.

The CSG Justice Center staff working on the Stepping Up Pennsylvania Behavioral Health-Criminal Justice Policy Scan & Planning Project conducted a key informant interview with the Lindsay Vaughan, Executive Director, and Greg Rowe, Director of Legislation and Policy, of the PA Department of Aging. The key informant delivered information to inform the policy scan as well as recommendations for the CSG Justice Center staff to consider including the policy scan.

The CSG Justice Center staff working on the Stepping Up Pennsylvania Behavioral Health-Criminal Justice Policy Scan & Planning Project conducted a key informant interview with Nicole Faraguna, Policy Director, and Shea Zwerver, Community Engagement Coordinator, of the PA Department of Conservation & Natural Resources. The key informants delivered information to inform the policy scan as well as recommendations for the CSG Justice Center staff to consider including the policy scan.

Under the Tribal Law and Policy Institute’s (TLPI) Tribal-State Collaboration award (2019-IC-BX-K005), TLPI will design ,develop, and deliver one national stakeholder meeting on intergovernmental collaboration (Task 1.2), The national stakeholders meeting will be highlighting existing promising practices in intergovernmental collaborations (Bullet #2 from 2019 RFP, Category 6, page 18.) (Coordinate with law enforcement-based awardee.) TLPI proposes to highlight these effective strategies in both a virtual meeting format (due to COVID-19 travel restrictions) and a subsequent publication.

The CSG Justice Center and University of Florida LE-MH Learning Site participated in a virtual site visit with the FY19 Clemson University grant team. The virtual site visit lasted for 4 hours and included different sessions for the grant team to learn about the work that the learning site was doing in Florida and to ask questions related to their ongoing grant work.

The CSG Justice Center and Tucson Police Department LE-MH Learning Site participated in a virtual site visit with the FY18 City of Jacksonville grant team. The virtual site visit lasted for 4 hours and included different sessions for the grant team to learn about the work that the learning site was doing and to ask questions related to their ongoing grant work. The agenda included introductions, history of MHST at Tucson Police Department, discussion and overview of how MHST was installed at Tucson Police and subsequent iterations, and the MHST Work Process.

The CSG Justice Center and Tucson Police Department LE-MH Learning Site participated in a virtual site visit with the FY18 City of Arlington grant team. The virtual site visit lasted for 4 hours and included different sessions for the grant team to learn about the work that the learning site was doing and to ask questions related to their ongoing grant work. The agenda included introductions, history of MHST at Tucson Police Department, discussion and overview of how MHST was installed at Tucson Police and subsequent iterations, and the MHST Work Process.

The CSG Justice Center responded to 59 requests to the Stepping Up information email line from July-December 2020.