In 2014, Central Valley Regional Center was awarded a Mental Health Services Act grant, with ARCA as the primary contractor. Its purpose was to examine concerns expressed by regional centers and other agencies about potential systemic issues encountered by people with developmental disabilities who become involved in the criminal justice system. The outcome of the grant was the identification of potential optimizations of the way such individuals are served during their involvement with the criminal justice system.
ARCA’s Forensic Task Force has, supported by ARCA staff, developed an online repository of information (resource guide) available to all 21 regional centers and others. This resource guide includes national, state, and local best practices that have been effective in work with persons with developmental disabilities involved in the criminal justice system.
The Task Force also identified areas of specific need, such as a lack of competency trainers within the community. Work was directed toward the development of competency training sessions, materials, and technical assistance for potential providers for regional centers to vendor and utilize.
This project was intended to benefit both juvenile and adult persons with developmental disabilities with co-occurring mental health, substance use, and other diagnoses. It was anticipated that this project and the products developed will help persons with developmental disabilities resolve their involvement in the criminal justice agency in a more expeditious manner.
Since 2015, three forums were held, and a variety of resources have been developed as a result.
Resource Library
- Competency Training for Regional Center Vendors (PowerPoint)
- Forensic psychological evaluations (PowerPoint) of clients to determine competency
- Competency assessment instrument (pdf) worksheet for assessing an individual’s competency
- Competency Assessment Rating Form (pdf) scoresheet for assessing an individual’s competency based on various metrics
- Court Competency & Regional Center Clients (PowerPoint)Presentation describing competency and relevant court processes for people served by regional centers
- How To Construct A Defendant’s Chart (document) Short guide to the components to include in a chart for a forensically-involved client
- Forensic Assessment Tools for Competency, Malingering and Neuropsychological Screening (pdf) An overview of the various tools one might use to assess a defendant
- Overview of Competency Training – Florida State Hospital Module 4 (ppt) info
- Understanding the Adversarial Nature of the Legal Process (PowerPoint) A description of the various participants in the legal process, geared towards clients.
- Helpful Hints for Seeing Defendants in County Jails (document) One-page guide to how a regional center employee can visit a client who is incarcerated.
- People v. Quiroz (document) Summary of the case of Quiroz, a defendant restored to competency.
- Name (pdf) A booklet meant to help better inform the various participants in the criminal justice system who may interact with defendants with developmental disabilities.
- Trial Competency Education (document) A Slater baseline scoresheet for evaluating a defendant.
- Trial Competency Assessment And Training Update (document) A Slater Method overall scoresheet for evaluating a defendant.
- Referral Form For Trial Competency Educational Training (document) Cover sheet and checklist for referring an individual to competency training
- Juvenile: Incompetent To Stand Trial (pdf) Overview of competency issues as relates to juveniles
- Juvenile Competency (ppt) PowerPoint describing the work of the LA County Probation Department as relates to juveniles with competency concerns.
- Legal Documents – Competence (pdf) Jury instructions for determining if a defendant is mentally competent, penal code description of trial process for a defendant found competent, and penal code description of what happens if competency changes during postrelease supervision or parole
- Legal Perspectives on Penal Code §1370.1 (document) Bullet point descriptions of details related to competency
- Porterville Waitlist – Memorandum (document) A memorandum concerning the PDC waitlist, citing relevant statute
- Survey on clients demographics (pdf) Example of survey given to RC staff w/ forensic caseload, on the nature of their clients
- Survey overview (pdf) Top-level results from a survey of the system, describing the nature of clients w/ forensic involvement
- Training Program for Defendants with Intellectual Disabilities Who Are Found Incompetent to Stand Trial (pdf)Study that examined whether the Slater Method increased defendants with intellectual disabilities’ ability to attain competence to stand trial.
- Offenders with Intellectual Disability: Characteristics, Prevalence, and Issues in Forensic Assessment (pdf)Literature review that describes similarities between offenders with ID and offenders without ID when compared to non-offenders (lower measured intelligence, less education, and lower socioeconomic status).
- Supporting Offenders with Developmental Disabilities at CCBDD (PowerPoint) This presentation discusses how to support offenders with developmental disabilities. The presentation describes competency including the elements of competency, assessments that are often used to assess competency, and competency restoration and offenders with DD.
- The Development of an Innovative Music Therapy Treatment Method: Trial Competency Through Music (pdf)This article describes and discusses Competency Through Music, a music therapy program, as a competency restoration tool (when used with standard evaluations, psychopharmacology, and psychoeducational treatment) for individuals found incompetent to stand trial. Participants engage in group therapy where they listen to a song and then discuss the legal significance of it (identify crime committed in song, possible legal outcomes for the crimes committed in the song, etc.). In a later phase of treatment, participants role play as the public defender or district attorney for the characters who committed crimes in the song, applying their trial competency knowledge.
- Building Trust and Legitimacy within Community Corrections (pdf)Report that discusses the need for community corrections to be taken seriously as a viable way to reform the criminal justice system. It discusses 6 core principles for creating success in community corrections (a summary of these principles can be found on page 20 of the report).
- Disability and Criminal Justice Reform: Keys to Success (pdf)This 62 page report addresses the need for reform in the criminal justice system of The United States of America. It highlights the need for appropriate community supports for individuals with disabilities upon their release from incarceration to decrease recidivism rates.
- Problem Solving Treatment for Intellectually Disabled Sex Offenders (pdf)This article describes the use and possible benefits of Problem Solving Treatment (PST) as part of a treatment plan for sex offender with intellectual disabilities (ID). The article proposes that there is a need for research on problem solving deficits often present in the sex offending behavior of offenders with ID and the effectiveness of PST treatment for these individuals.
- Project STOP Cognitive Behavioral Assessment and Treatment for Sex offenders with Intellectual Disability (pdf)This article provides information on prevalence and vulnerabilities of sex offenders with intellectual disabilities. It also discusses appropriate treatments including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). The article describes Project STOP, which is an outpatient CBT program.
- Downloading a Nightmare: When autism, child pornography and the courts collide (pdf)This article discusses whether diversion is more appropriate than jail time for individuals with Asperger’s or Autism who are arrested for possessing child pornography. The article discusses a case in depth that is awaiting sentencing. It also discusses the outcomes of some other cases.
- Treating Sexual Offenders with Learning Disabilities in the Community: A Critical Review (pdf)This article describes a study that aimed to evaluate a community-based treatment program for individuals with intellectual disabilities. The 6 participants were diverted from criminal proceedings and participated in a seven month treatment program that focused on sex education, offending cycle, cognitive distortions, and relapse prevention.
- Olmstead County Mental Health Programs (PowerPoint) This is a PowerPoint presentation that discusses several forensic services and programs in Minnesota. Slides 20-22 discuss some local programs regarding jail diversion (CIT, increased collaboration amongst relevant agencies). For example, a 2014 grant called Whatever It Takes (WIT) began providing various wrap around services that aim to support people and maintain their ability to live in the community following hospital release.
- Diversion: Overcoming Barriers to Build Capacity for Effective Interventions (pdf) This report aims to highlight the need for innovative and efficient ways to reduce recidivism and prevent incarceration of individuals with mental illness. The report discusses several treatment models that may be applied to individuals with mental illness, substance use disorder, and other diagnoses involved in the criminal justice system (CBT, DBT, SAMHSA peer support specialist, RNR Model).
- A Comparison of Prebooking and Postbooking Diversion Programs for Mentally Ill Substance Using Individuals with Justice Involvement (pdf) This study was interested in determining whetherhere were differences between baseline characteristics of individuals diverted pre-booking versus post-booking. The results determined that the two groups differ on rates of criminality, mental health, and substance use.
- The Crisis Intervention Team Model of Police Response to Mental Health Crises: A Primer for Mental Health Practitioners (pdf) This article discusses the Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) Model which is a model that involves 40 hours of specialized police training provided by mental health clinicians and advocates for and family members of individuals with mental illnesses. This training aides police in responding to calls that involve individuals with mental illnesses and de-escalation techniques.
- Jail Diversion Programs for Those with Mental Illness: An Emphasis on Pre-Booking and Other Early Diversion Models (pdf) This report provides background information on arrest, pre-booking, the court process and jail time, and pre-booking and post-booking diversion. It also describes why pre-booking and early diversion programs are a good place to invest California resources. The report describes the necessary steps to increase these programs in California
- Statewide Law Enforcement/ Mental Health Efforts Strategies to Support and Sustain Local Initiatives (pdf) This paper describes how statewide coordination efforts for specializing policing responders (SRPs) or crisis intervention teams (CITs) have been successfully structured in three states with different types of organization. Connecticut has an advocacy agency as lead, Ohio has a mental health agency as lead, and Utah has a law enforcement agency as lead.
- Ensuring Equal Access for People with Disabilities: A Guide for Washington Administrative Proceedings (pdf) This guide is written for Administrative Law Judges in Washington State. It provides guidelines to help ensure that administrative hearings are fully accessible and fully accommodating to individuals with disabilities. The guide outlines the law for accessibility and accommodation and provides examples for accommodations.
- Effectiveness of a Mental Health Court in Reducing Criminal Recidivism and Violence (pdf) This article reports on a study done to evaluate whether a mental health court in San Francisco reduced the risk of recidivism by people with mental health disorders who had been arrested. The study analyzed the occurrence of new criminal charges for people who entered mental health court versus those with mental health disorders who were booked into an urban county jail.
- Forum Agenda (pdf) Agenda from the 2015 Forensic Forum
- Evaluation Form (pdf) Presenters’ evaluation form used at the 2015 Forensic Forum
- Discussions Summary (pdf) Bullet points summarizing major issues identified during small group discussions at the 2015 Forensic Forum
- Forensic Relations presentation (pdf) Presentation on SCLARC’s multi-agency work to support forensically involved clients.
- Overview of Challenges Faced by Criminal Suspects & Offenders with I/DD (pdf) A presentation describing the work of the Arc’s National Center on Criminal Justice and Disability to support clients with forensic involvement, including the Disability Response Team, and Pathways to Justice model
- Omelegah Inc. housing supports (pdf) The supported living and other services and supports provided by Omelegah to forensic clients
- Save The Date flyer (pdf) Flyer on the CVRC/ARCA-sponsored statewide forensic forum, sent to potential participants.
- Table facilitator questions (pdf) Questions and instructions provided to table facilitators for the first day of the forensic forum.
- Table facilitator questions (pdf) Questions and instructions provided to table facilitators for the second day of the forensic forum.
- 2016 Forum Agenda (pdf) Agenda for the 2016 Forum
- 2016 Save-The-Date Flyer (pdf) Flyer distributed in advance of the conference
- Speakers’ biographies (pdf) Biographies of individuals who spoke at the conference
- LACPD Presentation (PowerPoint) LA County Probation Department presentation on the work of the department
- Psychological Assessment, Inc. presentation (pdf) Psychological Assessment, Inc. presentation
- Psychological Assessment, Inc. (additional) (pdf) Powerpoint note sheet from Psychological Assessment, Inc. presentation
- Webb Presentation (pdf) Presentation by Peggie Webb (SDRC) on overlap of forensic & behavioral health services
- Branson Presentation (pdf) Presentation by Reuben Branson, representing ILS/SLS service provider Congregate Connect, on the work they do
- Kendall Presentation (pdf) Presentation by Richard Kendall, representing day program provider Access ADP, on the work they do
- Regan Presentation (pdf) Presentation by Sandra Regan (RCEB) overviewing the work of the Forensics Service Specialist and the details of the system clients move through
- Discussion Questions (pdf) Questions for group/table discussion over two days
- Discussion Answers (Day 1) (pdf) Answers to the group/table discussion questions (day 1)
- Discussion Answers (Day 2) (pdf) Answers to the group/table discussion questions (Day 2)
- Comments (pdf) The comment/evaluation form
- 2017 Save-The-Date Flyer (pdf)
- 2017 Forum Agenda (pdf)
- Speakers’ biographies (pdf)
- Keynote Speakers (pdf) Biographies of the two speakers at the forum
- Forensic Services & Transition Planning (PowerPoint)
- Sexual Offenders with Developmental Disorders (PowerPoint)
- Get Safe Consumer Advocacy Training (GSCAT) (PowerPoint)
- A Paradigm Shift from Crisis Intervention to Crisis Prevention: Using Disability Response Teams to Support Sustainable Change (PowerPoint)
- Juvenile Competency (PowerPoint)
- Exodus Recovery Project Connect (PowerPoint) Project Connect is an innovative program, funded by the San Diego Regional Center, for persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities with co-occurring mental health and substance use issues who are currently involved or at a high risk to become involved in the criminal justice system.
- GET SAFE Programs for Persons with Developmental Disabilities (pdf) GET SAFE™ provides violence prevention education and self-defense training to protect the well-being of its students and to building safer, more inclusive communities.
- American Ambulance Behavioral Health Support Team (PowerPoint)
- Regional Center Forensic Liaisons (document) List of regional center staff to contact for forensic liaison issues
- Multi-Agency Advisory Board Members – 2017 (document) List of the nine entities, plus seven LA County regional centers, composing the Multi-Agency Advisory Board
- Discussion Questions (pdf) Questions for group/table discussion over two days
Criminal Justice Resource Library