Foreword

• Author: Richard D. Schneider - Hy Bloom - Mark Heerema
• Pages: 17-18

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Foreword

It has been a great pleasure for me to read Richard D. Schneider, Hy Bloom,Hy Bloom,

and Mark Heerema’s volume on Mental Health Courts: Decriminalizing the

Mentally Ill, and I am conf‌ident it will soon take its place as a leading re-it will soon take its place as a leading re-

source both in Canada and internationally.

This is a practical book, of immediate use to its principal intended au-

dience: those working in mental health courts and diversion programs in

Canada. As such, it explains the origin and operation of the mental health

court in Toronto, Ontario, a court with a mission to reduce the inordinate

delays once experienced in assessing the f‌itness of accused to stand trial,

and describes how that court operates to intervene positively in the lives of

those who come into contact with it. Beyond the f‌itness issue, the book care-

fully explores programs that divert the mentally ill from the criminal justice

system — programs that can operate at any stage of the criminal process.

Often, diversion occurs at the postcharge stage (and sometimes even later,

in the form of postsentence diversion). However, the authors illustrate how

diversion can also operate at the precharge or crime prevention stage, usu-

ally through joint programs of the police and mental health communities.

Moreover, in keeping with its practical aims, the book gives important advice

on how interested jurisdictions can go about creating a mental health court.

The authors have, therefore, masterfully accomplished their objectives.

Mental Health Courts should be of great interest and importance to an

international audience as well. The book compares the Canadian model

with the American model and also discusses Australian and British mental

health-court developments. In addition, the volume notes how the criminal

justice system often serves, in essence, as a legal “emergency room” to bring

clients into contact with appropriate social services and mental health treat-

ment — a phenomenon clearly applicable in the United States and in other