Illinois mental health courts are showing mixed results as they work to divert people with mental illness and addiction from the criminal justice system into treatment, according to a joint investigation by MindSite News and the Illinois Answers Project. The courts aim to reduce interactions between those with mental health and substance abuse issues and the criminal justice system, reduce recidivism, increase compliance with treatment, and improve quality of life.
Success Stories and Barriers
Shayla Woodworth struggled with mental illness and addiction since her teen years and spent time in jail in three states. After being arrested for auto theft in 2023, she chose to enter mental health court instead of facing prison. She noted the decision was crucial: “I knew that if I went to prison … I was going to keep repeating the same thing.” When it works, mental health court can be life-changing for the people involved.
However, the process can be long and arduous for participants who are often navigating poverty, housing instability, and social isolation. As the investigation revealed, many people who might benefit from mental health courts don’t have the opportunity to participate, and those who do face a difficult road to completion. Mental health courts have proliferated across the U.S. in recent decades, with documented success in reducing expensive cycles of incarceration.
Emergency Department Triage Disparities
A separate study in JAMA Pediatrics examined how emergency departments triage children with mental health symptoms. The study reviewed more than 74,500 pediatric visits at 15 different emergency departments around the country from 2021 through 2023. Only about one third of the cases were triaged appropriately. About 57% were overtriaged, meaning the condition was initially judged to be more serious than the treatment they ended up receiving. Just 8% was undertriaged, and this was more likely to happen to Hispanic and Black children than white children.
Dr. Jennifer Hoffman, an author of the study, noted that “there are a lot of pressures in the triage area to do this in a rapid manner” and that subjective judgements can be “prone to implicit bias.” Over-triaging can pull resources away from other children who actually need urgent attention, while under-triaging carries risk that a child at risk of harming themselves might leave before being evaluated or become escalated in the waiting room.
This article is an AI-assisted summary. All facts and figures are drawn from the original report: https://mindsitenews.org/2026/04/28/illinois-mental-health-courts-offer-treatment-over-prison-is-it-working-2/