Resources: Attorneys and Courts

Provides training and technical assistance to help meet the needs of state, local, and tribal criminal justice practitioners and agencies on a variety of justice topics including adjudication, corrections, crime prevention, justice information sharing, law enforcement, mental health, substance use, tribal justice, and capacity-building.

Provides training and technical assistance to government agencies, justice systems, and communities to plan and implement strategies to reduce recidivism and substance use among justice involved individuals and promote community health and safety. Includes assistance to Second Chance Act and other Office of Justice Programs (OJP) grantees.

Provides training and technical assistance to communities to enhance their ability to respond to individuals in the criminal justice system with mental and/or co-occurring substance use disorders. Focuses on developing and implementing best practices and policies designed to divert people from the criminal justice system and connect them to treatment and other support services.

Provides training and technical assistance to organizations, communities, and individuals involved with the justice system, including judges, attorneys, justice officials, community organizations, and others working to create a more fair, effective, and humane justice system. Offers hands-on support to help plan, implement, research, and evaluate new policies, programs, practices, and technologies to achieve systemic change, resulting in safer communities, reduced incarceration, and improved community perceptions of and relations with law enforcement and the justice system. Focuses on the following areas of reform: preventing crime, rethinking incarceration, strengthening families, engaging communities, improving decision-making, aiding survivors, and advancing fairness.

Provides training and technical assistance to jurisdictions to develop, implement, and expand comprehensive efforts to identify, respond to, treat, and support individuals impacted by the use and misuse of opioids, stimulants, and other substances. Promotes access to treatment and recovery services in the criminal justice system, data collection and sharing, leveraging resources and funding, and efforts to prevent substance misuse.

Offers technical assistance to state and local agencies and organizations to strengthen justice systems, reduce recidivism, and improve policy and practice to increase equity and access to services for behavioral health, housing, education/employment, victim support, and more.

Provides information to law enforcement, courts, child welfare agencies, and schools on how they can create cross-sector collaborations to reduce the harmful effects of substance use on children and families. Includes 8 strategies for cross-sector collaboration and provides examples of successful collaboration projects. Considers factors related to addressing substance use in rural communities.

Shares best practice standards for family treatment courts (FTCs) for local jurisdictions, states, tribes, and funders. Covers FTC organization and structure; role of judicial leadership; ensuring equity and inclusion; processes for early identification, screening, and assessment; timely and quality substance use disorder (SUD) treatment; comprehensive case management and family support services; therapeutic responses to behavior; and monitoring and evaluation. Includes key considerations for rural and tribal jurisdictions.

Provides training and technical assistance to states, tribes, and local jurisdictions to develop, enhance, and sustain family treatment courts (FTCs). Offers a range of resources, publications, and web-based learning tools to help implement evidence-based practices, strengthen family treatment court operations, and achieve better outcomes for participants. Promotes the use of FTCs to provide safe environments for children and address the needs of justice-involved parents with substance use disorder (SUD) through intensive judicial monitoring and interventions to treat SUD and other co-occurring risk factors.

Discusses results of the Rural Justice Survey, which documents the priorities of rural communities related to criminal justice and public safety and the challenges these communities face in accessing federal funding to address these issues. Offers recommendations to make federal funding, technical assistance, and training programs more available and relevant to rural stakeholders, including justice and public safety practitioners, healthcare providers, public health officials, treatment providers, victim advocates, and others. Highlights needs and interventions in areas such as behavioral health, substance use, crisis intervention, supportive services, and others.

Offers a 2-day training opportunity to communities, agencies, and organizations seeking to enhance their capacity to provide training in trauma-informed responses to providers working with individuals involved in the criminal justice system. Develops local trainers who can deliver SAMHSA GAINS Center's "How Being Trauma-Informed Improves Criminal Justice System Responses" curriculum to justice system professionals, law enforcement, and mental health and substance use disorder (SUD) providers and peers.

Offers a variety of resources and information to jurisdictions seeking to reduce criminal justice involvement and improve outcomes for individuals with mental health and/or co-occurring substance use disorders. Supports the implementation of best practices, policies, and strategies at every point in the criminal justice system, from pre-arrest through reentry. Provides targeted resources to BJA's Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program and Connect and Protect: Law Enforcement Behavioral Health program grantees and supports other communities in their efforts to enhance crisis responses, connect individuals to treatment and services, and improve public safety.

Offers a national overview of data on adolescent treatment courts in the U.S. and a map-based court locator tool that allows users to search for adolescent treatment court programs in each state. Includes the location, contact information, and key program details for each treatment court.

Provides training and technical assistance to enhance the social and emotional well-being and improve outcomes for children and families impacted by substance use and co-occurring mental health disorders and child abuse or neglect. Supports agencies and professionals in developing policies, procedures, and practices that promote recovery, safety, and stability for children, youth, and parents at risk or currently involved with the justice system and for those who have experienced maltreatment, violence, and other forms of trauma.

Provides training and technical assistance to help state administering agencies (SAAs) and local Criminal Justice Planning Boards (CJPBs) administer Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) grant awards to strengthen state and local criminal justice systems. Offers resources and guidance in a range of areas related to the management and effective use of Byrne JAG funding to address criminal justice and public safety needs.

Provides training and technical assistance to rural, tribal, and underserved communities to address criminal justice, public safety, and other related challenges. Offers customized, culturally appropriate assistance in the areas of tribal justice, law enforcement, child safety, and victim services. Serves as the technical assistance provider for the DOJ's Coordinated Tribal Assistance Solicitation (CTAS) program.

Serves as a central hub for information and resources to support the establishment and operations of all treatment court types, including adult, youth, and veteran treatment courts, and tribal healing to wellness courts. Offers a range of publications, interactive maps, newsletters, podcasts, and other materials to help jurisdictions design and implement new programs; expand and enhance existing programs; and analyze and disseminate program data.

Provides training and technical assistance to organizations and professionals who serve victims of crime. Aims to build the capacity of providers to enhance victim services and identify and reach underserved crime victims. Offers assistance in several focus areas, including human trafficking, mass violence and terrorism, culturally responsive services, vicarious trauma and resiliency, elder fraud, trauma-informed organizations, and more.

Offers technical assistance and resources to OJJDP's Opioid Affected Youth Initiative grantees working to develop and implement interventions to identify, respond to, and support children, youth, and families impacted by opioids and other substance use disorders (SUDs). Supports integrated, strategic approaches to substance use issues and promotes multidisciplinary collaboration between juvenile justice and juvenile court systems, mental and behavioral health services, child welfare, healthcare, and other stakeholders.

Provides free training, education, and technical assistance to increase access for communities to evidence-based practices for opioid use disorder (OUD) and stimulant use prevention, treatment, and recovery services. Connects community members with local consultants and technology specialists who are qualified to implement evidence-based practices.

Podcast episode featuring the county prosecutor of rural Navajo County in northeast Arizona discussing efforts to provide substance use disorder treatment and recovery services to individuals in the county jail. Transcript available below description.

Summarizes the contents of a 1-day listening session for judges and court personnel from rural communities held in July 2024, focusing on barriers, successes, and innovations to address substance use disorder (SUD) for court-involved people and to identify additional opportunities for courts to support children and families impacted by SUD.

Video recording sharing highlights from a December 13-14, 2018 workshop in Knoxville, Tennessee attended by rural sheriffs and judges. Workshop hosted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development and the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) to brainstorm ideas and discuss new methods to address the opioid crisis.

Provides an overview of Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) efforts to address the challenges incarcerated and justice system-involved individuals face when attempting to seek treatment for and recover from mental illness and substance use disorder (SUD). Seeks to increase access to behavioral health services, minimize costs, and other consequences related to the unnecessary and repetitive incarceration of people with behavioral health issues. Discusses strategies to identify individuals with mental illness and SUD, implement diversion programs, enhance reentry services, evidence-based practices, screening and assessments, and more.

Offers a training opportunity to local jurisdictions seeking to implement the Sequential Intercept Model (SIM) mapping process to address the needs of adults with mental and substance use disorders (SUDs) who are involved or at risk for involvement in the criminal justice system. Brings together cross-system, multidisciplinary teams from local criminal justice and behavioral health agencies and organizations to develop integrated strategic community action plans to identify individuals with behavioral health needs and divert them out of the criminal justice system and into appropriate community-based treatment programs.

Provides training and technical assistance to treatment courts and treatment court professionals, including BJA Adult Drug Court Grantees, to enhance the capacity, knowledge, and skills of treatment court programs to effectively deliver services to justice-involved individuals impacted by substance use and create safer and healthier communities. Offers resources, materials, and programming to support treatment courts in implementing best practices, building recovery capital, and other support services for the target population and their families dealing with issues related to substance use.

Provides training and technical assistance to help tribal jurisdictions develop new or strengthen existing healing to wellness courts. Offers up-to-date resources on effective, evidence-based strategies to address alcohol and substance use issues among justice-involved juveniles and adults in tribal areas using a treatment court model that incorporates culturally appropriate services, trauma-informed approaches, and traditional healing practices.

Provides guidance to Tribal Healing to Wellness Courts (THWCs) on effective case management practices and the functions of case management in THWC operations. Offers case management models; resources; and information related to ethics, balancing roles, and data collection and evaluation to assist THWCs in developing or revising the role of case managers in their courts.

Discusses common elements of intergovernmental collaboration, including tribal-state collaborations, intended to assist Tribal Healing to Wellness Courts (THWCs) interested in utilizing collaboration to enhance their court operations. Provides a brief history THWCs, profiles of current collaborations that can serve as models, and shares resources to help new and existing THWCs meet the needs of their communities.

Provides subject matter-based training and technical assistance designed for tribes to enhance their practical and specialized knowledge to implement and strengthen their tribal justice system initiatives and interventions.

Seeks to identify justice-involved veterans and contact them through outreach in order to facilitate access to U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) services through Veterans Justice Outreach (VJO) specialists at the earliest possible point. Builds and maintains partnerships between the VA and key elements of the criminal justice system, with the goal of preventing homelessness among veterans upon release from incarceration.