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Professional Interaction In Mental Health Courts: Processing Defendants With Mental Illness, Monte D. Staton

The Qualitative Report

In this paper, the author presents ethnographic research and analysis of how criminal justice and mental health professionals interact with each other and with criminal defendants with mental illness in running a mental health court (MHC) program. Ethnographic field research included observations of court programs, interviews of professionals, and gathering of textual documents, at nine MHCs in a Midwestern state. In MHC criminal defendants with mental illness participate in a program of regular court appearances, probation supervision, and mandated treatment, rather than being incarcerated in jail or prison. The author utilized the symbolic interaction perspective and examined how the professionals …