Resources: Justice System

Outlines federal drug policy priorities and promotes short and long-term solutions to reduce drug use, overdose, supply, and other related harms in the U.S. Covers information and strategies to prevent youth substance use, expand access to medications for opioid use disorder and other evidence-based treatments, building recovery communities, and strengthening efforts to disrupt drug trafficking. Includes strategies to address substance use issues in rural, tribal, and other underserved communities.

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.

Summarizes key focus areas, needs, and recommendations of underrepresented rural and tribal law enforcement leaders in 5 states that were the result of a series of listening sessions with federal agencies. Includes topics such as substance use, mental health, and homelessness; illicit drugs; trafficking from the southern border; relationships with tribes; and funding, among others. Provides individual state summaries and U.S. Department of Justice resources to support local efforts to enhance public safety and reduce crime in rural and tribal areas.

Summarizes key focus areas, needs, and recommendations of underrepresented rural and tribal law enforcement leaders in 9 states that were the result of a series of listening sessions with federal agencies. Includes topics such as substance use and addiction; mental health and medical care; illegal drug trafficking and related crime; school safety; and funding, among others. Describes ongoing federal responses to rural law enforcement concerns and highlights several best practices and new ideas to support local efforts to enhance public safety and reduce crime in rural and tribal areas.

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.

Provides an overview and history on the use of peer recovery support services (PRSS) in tribal communities to address high rates of substance use and substance use disorders (SUDs). Offers resources and models on best practices for tribes to develop, implement, and sustain PRSS programming. Draws insights from 9 tribal PRSS practitioners to highlight the importance of including Native American culture and traditions into PRSS delivery.

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 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.

Offers an opportunity for first responder organizations operating deflection initiatives for people with substance use disorders (SUDs) to apply to become a mentor site to provide peer-to-peer mentoring to other first responder organizations interested in establishing or enhancing a deflection program. Promotes deflection as an innovative model to support individuals in the community with opioid, stimulant, and other SUDs, mental health and/or co-occurring disorders while avoiding involvement with the justice system.

Helps veterans achieve success and avoid homelessness following release from incarceration in state or federal prison. Provides outreach and assessment services; referral services to connect veterans to clinical, mental health, and social services, such as job assistance; and short-term case management support.

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.

Discusses key considerations for small and rural law enforcement agencies seeking to establish and maintain peer support services. Promotes peer support as part of a wellness strategy for police officers dealing with substance use, mental, or physical health issues related to working in a high stress occupation. Provides action steps for peer support program design as well as promising practices and lessons learned from 3 small and rural departments currently utilizing peer support.

Offers jails with established medication-assisted treatment (MAT) programs the opportunity to apply to become a mentor site to provide peer-to-peer mentoring to other jails interested in establishing or expanding MAT programs to better meet the needs of individuals in jail with substance use disorders (SUD).

Provides training, resources, and technical assistance to improve law enforcement and community responses to individuals with behavioral health conditions or intellectual and developmental disabilities. Supports the development of police-mental health collaborations designed to help officers safely and effectively to people with behavioral health needs and increase their access to services.

Serves as a clearinghouse of resources to assist law enforcement agencies across the country in establishing a naloxone program to reduce the harm and number of deaths associated with opioid overdose. Offers information on a range of topics related to operating a naloxone program, including naloxone medication and its role in law enforcement; acquiring and administering naloxone; training law enforcement; liability and risk issues; and collaboration with other agencies and stakeholders. Provides a variety of tools and materials, such as sample documents and templates for data collection forms, training materials, press releases, community outreach materials, and more. Product of the Bureau of Justice Assistance's (BJA) National Training and Technical Assistance Center (NTTAC) funded by a contract through the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of Justice Programs (OJP).

Offers information on the principles of the assertive community treatment (ACT) model, which provides time-unlimited, community-based services for individuals with serious mental illness (SMI) who experience or are at risk for concurrent substance use, frequent hospitalization, homelessness, involvement with the criminal legal system, and psychiatric crises. Discusses current issues and challenges as well as strategies for successfully implementing ACT in communities. Describes examples of ACT implementation for specific underserved populations, including individuals with criminal justice involvement, people in rural areas, youth, older adults, and immigrants.

Shares strategies to help small or rural law enforcement agencies provide mental health training for their officers. Discusses some challenges small and rural law enforcement agencies can experience when training to provide mental health training.

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.

Offers training and technical assistance to mentoring practitioners and programs seeking to implement and operate mentoring programs to achieve positive outcomes for justice-involved youth. Provides youth mentors with information, tools, program, and training materials to support the use of evidence-based practices and innovative models designed to increase the quality and effectiveness of various program types, including group, peer, school-based, or web-based mentoring. Promotes mentoring as an important approach to support youth safety and well-being, prevent or decrease their involvement with the justice system, and reduce crime.

Describes opportunities and resources related to mentoring, including relevant research, programmatic grants, training and technical assistance, and publications. Aims to increase access to effective mentoring services for youth in hopes of reducing youth substance use, aggression, depression, and criminal behavior while improving self-esteem, academic performance, and peer relationships.

Offers comprehensive information and resources on the use of prescription opioids, managing chronic pain, and opioid use disorder (OUD) for patients and providers, specifically for American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) communities and Indian Health Service (IHS) providers. Includes online tools, technical assistance resources, guides, and training for patients and providers on topics such as opioid crisis data, opioid prevention, proper pain management, opioid prescribing/stewardship, culturally appropriate practices, maternal health, harm reduction, naloxone use, child health and wellness, medication-assisted treatment (MAT), tele-MAT, trauma-informed care, best practices, supportive services, wellness courts, and training opportunities. Resource is an initiative of the IHS Alcohol and Substance Abuse Branch (ASAB).

Toolkit sharing guidance and resources for tribal justice system practitioners to develop or enhance existing reentry programs for American Indian and Alaska Native populations returning from jail or prison. Covers devolving a planning team; identifying and collaborating with partners; engaging clients; measuring program impact; and more. Includes best practices and program examples for tribal justice system practitioners.

Provides resources support law enforcement agencies in developing police – mental health collaboration (PMHC) programs in which they partner with mental health providers and other community stakeholders to safely and effectively respond to people with mental illness and increase access to services. Offers a PMHC self-assessment tool and modules on key aspects of designing, implementing, and managing a PMHC program that is tailored to meet the unique needs of individual communities.

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, enhancing reentry services, evidence-based practices, screening and assessments, and more.

Shares national guidelines for behavioral health crisis care best practice toolkit from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and a 2020 technical assistance paper series focused on crisis services. Offers information to support mental health authorities, agency administrators, service providers, and other state and local leaders in the design, development, implementation, and quality improvement of behavioral health crisis systems. Details components of crisis services and best practices, along with tools for implementing and evaluating care that aligns with national guidelines. Addresses key issues related to crisis services, including homelessness, technology advances, substance use, legal issues, financing crisis care, diverse populations, children and adolescents, rural and frontier areas, and the role of law enforcement.

Provides an overview of the Second Chance Act (SCA) grant programs that support state, local, and tribal governments and other nonprofit organization to reduce recidivism and improve outcomes for individuals who have been incarcerated. Shares information on the SCA program tracks, success stories, and other opportunities for further assistance. Product of the National Reentry Resource Center funded by a grant through the Office of Justice Programs (OJP) Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA).

Outlines strategies, technologies, and successful models rural communities can adapt to support crisis response and pre-arrest diversion for individuals with mental health and substance use issues in their communities.

Provides training and technical assistance to treatment courts to enhance the capacity, knowledge, and skills of treatment court programs to effectively deliver services to justice-involved youth 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 youth offenders 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.

Provides training and technical assistance to Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) tribal grantees and federally recognized tribes to improve juvenile justice systems, with the goal of reducing crime, recidivism, and victimization, and increasing positive outcomes for Native youth. Builds tribal capacity to develop and implement community-led, culturally based approaches to youth prevention and intervention, enhancement of tribal court systems, trauma-informed care, and other efforts to address issues affecting Native youth, such as poverty, addiction, suicide, violence, and gang activity.

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.