Committee Overview
Created in September 2013, the Mental Health Committee is tasked with improving the justice system’s handling of those with behavioral health issues. Its goal is to prevent unnecessary criminal justice involvement of those with behavioral health issues and to improve the treatment of those who do go through the system. Made up of criminal justice agency representatives, behavioral health professionals, and mental health advocates, the Mental Health Committee uses data driven strategies to identify the group of individuals in our community at greatest risk of cycling between these systems and utilizes interagency collaboration to encourage immediate, ethical, and efficient system responses to those individuals.
Committee Co-Chairs
Michael Lappen (Milwaukee County Behavioral Health Division - Administrator)
Kent Lovern (Milwaukee County District Attorney's Office)
Tom Reed (State Public Defender's Office)