Background: The courts continually weigh the advantages of sending offenders t

Background: The courts continually weigh the advantages of sending offenders to jail versus diverting offenders into treatment programs. One of these programs is the mental health diversion program.
Instead of locking up mentally ill offenders some courts now redirect these persons to community-based treatment services. If a crime was committed because of mental illness, a tailored treatment program might be more effective in treating these individuals than incarceration.
Assignment: The objective of this assignment is to evaluate the effectiveness of Mental Health Courts. Although this program may ease the workload for courts and corrections, are Mental Health Courts effective in treating offenders and preventing recidivism?
Students are to use three journal articles relating to the effectiveness of Mental Health Courts.
The submitted paper must be a minimum of five pages of 12-point font (Arial or Times New Roman only), double-spaced type, not including cover page and bibliography. Resources must be reflected in a bibliography, using APA citation rules.
Paper Formatting Requirements:
Cover Page: Include the title of the paper, your name, the class title and date of submission
Section 1: Introduction: Make an introductory statement about the topic and explain the purpose of your paper.
Section 2: Summarize the main points of the three articles, including why Mental Health Courts were created and how they are used.
Section 3: Compare and contrast the authors’ perspectives on the advantages and disadvantages of Mental Health Courts. Do the authors reach the same conclusions? How are their perspectives alike and how do they differ? Do the authors conclude that Mental Health Courts provide effective rehabilitation, reduce overall recidivism rates and are an effective use of resources or is the overall cost of these courts disproportionate to their degree of success? Provide statistics to support the authors’ findings.
Section 4: Conclusion: Provide a focused, concise conclusion based on your analysis of the articles, explaining why Mental Health Courts should or should not be used. Reference Page List at least three journal references on a separate page and provide complete citations in accordance with the APA style manual.