Mental Health Court

Eligibility

The Mental Health Court Program is limited to residents of Delaware County who are 18 or older. In order to participate in the Mental Health Court Program, the person must have a serious mental illness (SMI) diagnosis (schizophrenia, major mood disorder, psychoses NOS, borderline personality disorder) that contributed to the criminal behavior. Persons with co-occurring disorders (mental health and substance use disorder) will be evaluated for the Mental Health Court Program if they meet the criteria for serious mental illness. The Court prefers to address non-violent offenses but other crimes will be taken into consideration on a case-by­-case basis.

Exclusionary Criteria

• While each case will be considered individually, the following offenses will typically be excluded from the Program:
• Felony sex offenses
• Felony crimes of violence
• Felony crimes of violence committed with a firearm
• Felony drug offenses
• Participants are considered ineligible if there are any unresolved out of county charges.  It is the responsibility of the participant’s counsel to resolve any pending out of county charges.
• Murder and Manslaughter will not be considered under any circumstances