Capital University Law School to Co-sponsor Conferences on Mental Illness in the Criminal Justice System and Crisis Intervention Teams

May 11 and 12, 2005 -- A joint conference in Columbus this week will focus attention on innovative ways that police and the courts are responding to people with mental illness in the criminal justice system.

Capital University Law School, the Supreme Court of Ohio, the Ohio Criminal Justice Coordinating Center of Excellence and the Ohio Chapter of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill are co-sponsoring the First National Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) Conference in conjunction with the Third National Conference on Mental Illness and the Criminal Justice System.

“More and more the criminal justice system is being called upon to handle mentally ill defenders,” said Capital University Law School Dean Jack A. Guttenberg, a former criminal defense attorney. “Unfortunately, prisons are becoming the institutions of last resort for the mentally ill. This conference is bringing individuals from the justice and mental health systems together to address this issue.”

The joint conference will be held Wednesday, May 11, and Thursday, May 12, at the Greater Columbus Convention Center. The first day will focus on crisis intervention teams. The second day will focus on mental illness and the criminal justice system with continued discussion of crisis intervention teams.

“Very often, people who are brought before the criminal justice system have serious mental illness,” said Justice Evelyn Lundberg Stratton of the Supreme Court of Ohio, who will introduce speakers and moderate panels at the conference. “These conferences together will explore ways that all of us, from police on the beat to judges on the bench, can better deal with this growing issue.”

More than 600 attendees from across the country and Canada will attend, and mental health and criminal justice professionals from 20 different states will act as presenters. Conference workshops and panels will cover a range of topics including how to establish an effective and successful crisis intervention team, how to diagnosis and provide basic treatment of mental illness and how to find grants and other funding for mental health courts.

Justice Stratton is nationally known for her leadership role in promoting creative and effective alternatives to incarceration for individuals with mental illness, and for her work as an advocate for better services and more humane treatment for people with mental illnesses. In 2001, she established the Supreme Court of Ohio Advisory Committee on Mentally Ill in the Courts, the first such Supreme Court committee in the country. The Advisory Committee, which includes mental health, legal and criminal justice professionals, works to establish task forces in each county to bring local representatives together to collaborate on issues relating to the mentally ill in the criminal justice system. Also in 2001, the Supreme Court created an office designed to assist and support local courts in developing specialized programs uniquely tailored to helping specific populations within the court system.

Major Sam Cochran and Randolph Dupont, Ph.D., will give an address on “The State of CIT” in the morning on the first day of the conference. Cochran, who is a 30-year career law enforcement officer with the Memphis Police Department and who was instrumental in the creation of the country’s first Crisis Intervention Team in 1988, has trained law enforcement officers throughout the country to understand mental illness, to take advantage of treatment resources available in local communities and to use unique skills to de-escalate individuals in mental crises. Dupont teaches in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Memphis. He has worked with the Memphis Police Department as an instructor and lead consultant to CIT and has provided consultation to municipalities nationwide.

Frederick J. Frese, Ph.D., a noted psychologist with a history of schizophrenia, will give the keynote presentation, “Changing Approaches to Mental Illness,” at noon on the first day of the joint conference.

Domingo S. Herraiz, director of the federal Bureau of Justice Assistance, and Michael F. Hogan, Ph.D., director of the Ohio Department of Mental Health and former chair of the President’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health, are also scheduled to speak at the conference.

“The response to this conference has been overwhelming and we’ve had to adjust to accommodate more attendees, but it shows the growing public awareness that this is a problem that we can work together to solve,” said Justice Stratton.

To learn more, please visit www.law.capital.edu/micj.

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Please note that media are welcome to attend the conference at no charge.

Contact: Shannon Libby of the Supreme Court of Ohio at 614.387.9250 or Jessica Poprocki of Capital University Law School at 614.236.6377.