Summary
"The Symposium addressed current provisions that are improving outcomes for mentally ill individuals in the criminal justice system and recommended steps to achieve greater progress. This includes the need to increase information sharing between all involved parties, establish greater partnerships and collaboration, engage society in community initiatives to amend public stigma revolving around the mentally ill, increase involvement of families and encourage peer support networks, reintegrate mentally ill individuals into their communities, effectively remove other social problems such as financial stress and a lack of housing to improve treatment results, focus on preventative and early intervention care, ease the navigation of the current system to increase its accessibility, refocus sentencing of mentally ill individuals to aid in their treatment and not perceived public safety, and the need to create mechanisms for the health and criminal justice system to work as one integrated and complementary system."--Page 4.