Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Act of 2004

(This measure has not been amended since it was reported to the House on October 5, 2004. The summary of that version is repeated here.)

Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Act of 2004 - Amends the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to authorize the Attorney General to award grants to eligible State and local governments and Indian tribes and organizations to plan and implement programs that: (1) promote public safety by ensuring access to mental health and other treatment services for mentally ill adults or juveniles; and (2) are overseen cooperatively by a criminal justice agency, juvenile justice agency, or mental health court and a mental health agency (collaboration programs). Requires such programs to target nonviolent adults or juveniles who: (1) have been diagnosed as having a mental illness or co-occurring mental illness and substance abuse disorders or who manifest obvious signs of such an illness or disorder during arrest or confinement or before any court; and (2) face criminal charges and are deemed eligible on the ground that the commission of the offense is the product of the person's mental illness.

Directs that grants be used to create or expand: (1) mental health courts or other court-based programs for such persons; (2) programs that offer specialized training to criminal or juvenile justice agency officers and employees and mental health personnel in identifying symptoms in order to respond appropriately to individuals with mental illnesses; (3) programs that support cooperative efforts by criminal, juvenile justice, and mental health agencies to promote public safety by offering mental health and substance abuse treatment services; and (4) programs that support intergovernmental cooperation between State and local governments with respect to the mentally ill offender.

Requires the Attorney General and the Secretary of Health and Human Services to: (1) develop a procedure for applying simultaneously for a planning grant and an implementation grant; and (2) establish an interagency task force to identify policies which hinder or facilitate local collaborative initiatives for such offenders. Directs the Attorney General to develop a list of best practices for appropriate diversion from incarceration of adult and juvenile offenders.

Written by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. All summary versions on Congress.gov