for mental health courts. The main goal of a mental health court is to reduce recidivism and to also free up space in the criminal justice system. According to Almquist and Dodd (2009), mental health courts aim to improve public safety, reduce corrections costs, and to improve the quality of life of people with mental illnesses. Lack of accessible treatment could enable those people to reoffend. As stated by Spigel (2001), the court’s goals are to: create effective interactions between the criminal