Mental health courts began as grassroots initiatives in the mid-1990s. Early versions found inspiration from the success of drug courts—an emerging brand of court dedicated to accused with substance addictions. On a very basic level, drug courts operate by offering accused a simple option: avoid serving a sentence for your drug-related offence by completing a drug-treatment program.

One of the first known programs to tackle the problem of mentally disordered accused in the criminal justice system was created in Toronto. The "Diversion of Mentally Disordered Accused" became a program which was part of the Crown Policy Manual in 1994. The success of these specialty courts, along with a growing awareness that the traditional criminal justice system was failing individuals with mental disorders, combined to legitimize the emergence of mental health courts.

In writing this book, the authors have sought to assist two groups of professionals primarily involved with these courts, namely, mental health care service providers and the various criminal justice professionals.

Part I of this book is an overview of the historical and theoretical foundations underlying the mental health court movement. It outlines the various factors which precipitated the emergence of these courts. Part II offers a thorough description of a typical mental health court in operation. In addition to describing the role of each mental health court team member, it goes on to provide guidance to those seeking to establish a mental health court. Part III analyzes the successes and failures of these courts and ends with a critical look at the long-term desirability of mental health courts.

The Honourable Mr. Justice Richard D. Schneider, BSc, MA, PhD, LLB, LLM, CPsych, is a Justice of the Ontario Court of Justice, Deputy Judge of the Territorial Court of Yukon, Chair of the Ontario Review Board, and Alternate Chair of the Nunavut Review Board. He was previously a criminal defence lawyer and certified clinical psychologist. He was counsel to the Ontario Review Board from 1994 to 2000 and was certified by the Law Society of Upper Canada as a specialist in criminal litigation. Justice Schneider is also an Adjunct Professor, Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine and Faculty of Law at the University of Toronto; a “Specially Appointed Researcher” at the China University of Political Science and Law Criminal Psychology Research Centre. He was named Honorary President of the Canadian Psychological Association in 2002. Justice Schneider’s private practice was generally limited to the representation of mentally disordered accused, and a great deal of his time has been spent presiding at the Mental Health Court in Toronto. His major research interests are competency and criminal responsibility, and he has published extensively in the area of mental disorder and the law. Recent books include Mental Health Courts: Decriminalizing the Mentally Ill (2007, with H. Bloom & M. Heerema); Annotated Ontario Mental Health Statutes, 4th ed (2007); The Lunatic and the Lords (2009); Law and Mental Disorder: A Comprehensive and Practical Approach (2013, with H. Bloom); Mental Disorder and the Law: A Primer for Legal and Mental Health Professionals, 2d ed (2017, with H. Bloom); Fitness to Stand Trial: Fairness First and Foremost (2018, with H. Bloom); and The Death of a Butterfly: Mental Health Court Diaries (2019) (all published by Irwin Law/Delve Books).

Richard D. Schneider's profile page

Hy Bloom, BA, LL.B., MD, FRCP(C) is a director of workplace.calm, inc., consultants in Workplace Conflict and Violence Prevention and Management, and is the Managing Associate of the Central Branch of the PSILEX Group, Consultants in Behavioural Sciences and the Law. He is also a part-time staff member of the Law and Mental Health Program at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Toronto, and an Assistant Clinical Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at McMaster University. Dr. Bloom received his LL.B. from McGill University in 1978, and his MD from McMaster University in 1984. He was called to the Bar of Ontario in 1980. He has published on a number of topics in psychiatry and the law. He has co-authored one book, Defending Mentally Disordered Persons (Toronto: Carswell, 1995), and co-edited a book, entitled A Practical Guide to Mental Health Capacity and Consent Law of Ontario (Toronto: Carswell, 1996). Dr. Bloom has served as a psychiatric consultant to a number of public and private sector organizations on the subject of workplace conflict and violence, and has lectured and written on the topic.

Hy Bloom's profile page

Mark Heerema is currently studying in the Masters of Law Program at the University of Cambridge as a Rt. Honourable Paul Martin Scholar. He has published in the areas of mental health law, criminal law, and constitutional law and is a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada.

Mark Heerema's profile page

"This is a practical book, of immediate use to its principal intended audience: those working in mental health court and diversion programs in Canada.... [The] relationship of the criminal justice and mental health systems, and the development of different models of mental health courts, are deftly discussed in the interdisciplinary and theoretical context of the therapeutic jurisprudence perspective. In that respect the book constitutes a major contribution to the therapeutic jurisprudence literature, and its discussion of the Canadian and comparative contexts will be of great interest to the legal and mental health communities in many jurisdictions. I am confident that it will soon take its place as a leading resource both in Canada and internationally."

David B. Wexler, Lyons Professor of Law and Professor of Psychology, University of Arizona