Aligning Health and Safety: The Building Blocks
A tool for states to support local systems improvements at the intersection of criminal justice and behavioral health
Over 10 million people enter jail each year, and well over half have a mental illness, a substance use disorder, or both. While accessing needed treatment is key to improving people’s health and reducing recidivism, local justice systems struggle to connect people to care.
State leaders play a critical role in safely reducing the number of people with behavioral health needs who are entering local justice systems. This tool helps state leaders navigate common challenges that stand in the way of improving local criminal justice and behavioral health systems.
State-level policy actions through all three branches of government can help establish the building blocks for initiating or advancing local efforts to improve outcomes for people with behavioral health needs. These policy actions include not just legislation and regulatory changes, but also budgets, rule-making, administrative policies, and leadership approaches. Essential building blocks that localities must have in place include
- Effective collaboration structures;
- Cross-system data collection and information sharing capacity; and
- Aligned funding to strengthen care and supports.
This tool is designed to help state policymakers and staff
- Understand levers available across all three branches of state government to support localities’ foundational needs;
- Learn what strategies other states have used to advance similar priorities; and
- Gather key resources and best practices to support effective implementation.
How the Tool Works
Each policy area in this tool (e.g., Collaboration, Data Collection and Information Sharing) highlights a set of foundational state policy goals and key questions states should ask themselves as they engage in cross-system policy initiatives. Under each policy question, users will find a rationale, important considerations, state examples, and relevant resources.
As users move through the tool, they can add relevant items to their resources folder, storing key resources and policy options in one place for download upon completion.
Look for an Add to My Resources button for content you can add to your resources folder.
While policy work at this intersection can benefit from an expansive definition of “behavioral health,” which can include intellectual and developmental disabilities and traumatic brain injuries, for the purposes of this tool, “behavioral health” refers to mental illness, substance use disorders, and co-occurring disorders.