Mental health courts: A misguided attempt to address the criminal justice system's unfair treatment of people with mental illnesses.

Mental health courts have proliferated in tandem with rising concerns about large numbers of people with mental illnesses cycling through the criminal justice system. Although the goals of these problem-solving courts are laudable, they have flourished because of systemic failures in public mental health and the criminal justice system. In addition to raising various civil rights and public policy concerns, these specialty courts are inherently flawed, unintentionally signaling an acceptance of the rates at which people with serious mental illnesses are entering the criminal justice system. Their very presence makes it more difficult to generate political will to address the root of the problem. Alternative, evidence-based programs address the same concerns without raising the same civil rights and policy questions.