What changes for New Haven residents: Connecticut’s top jurist has launched a planning effort that could alter how people with mental illness and addiction are handled in the criminal justice system, potentially reducing local jail stays and shifting some cases into treatment-focused court supervision.
Task force will design a pilot behavioral health court
Connecticut Supreme Court Chief Justice Raheem Mullins announced this week the creation of a task force to design a pilot behavioral health court in the state. The initiative responds to concerns that people with mental illness are overrepresented in the criminal justice system and often cycle through court, jail and emergency services without receiving sustained care.
The task force includes more than two dozen members from a range of professions, according to Mullins, representing medical professionals, law enforcement, school leadership and addiction treatment specialists. Superior Court Judge Dan Klau will serve as vice-chair alongside former Supreme Court Associate Justice Joette Katz.
“If we could get the people the help they need, we might prevent them from having to go through a lot of the rigmarole of the criminal justice system,” Mullins said.
Klau, who lost his daughter Miri to an overdose in 2021 after she struggled with mental illness and addiction, said he would like the court model to include teams of professionals to support defendants, such as care coordinators and peer counselors with lived experience.
How the program might operate and local consequences
Mullins said only a handful of state systems around the country have specialized behavioral health courts and that the models vary. He cited New York’s mental health court as an example — a model that, where appropriate, links defendants to community-based treatment in lieu of incarceration and provides regular updates on treatment progress.
If Connecticut adopts a similar approach, New Haven could see:
- fewer low-level cases going to criminal trial and jail, as eligible defendants are steered to treatment and supervision;
- court resources reallocated to cases that require traditional adjudication, potentially shortening some dockets;
- expanded roles for community-based treatment providers, peer counselors and care coordinators working with local courts and probation staff.
Mullins emphasized that the task force’s purpose is to design the pilot and that he does not yet have a fixed blueprint for how Connecticut’s court will operate. The group is expected to weigh models from other states and recommend an approach tailored to Connecticut’s courts and community services.
| Task force leadership | Role |
|---|---|
| Raheem Mullins | Chief Justice, convening the task force |
| Dan Klau | Vice-chair, Connecticut Superior Court Judge |
| Joette Katz | Vice-chair, former Supreme Court Associate Justice |
The pilot’s design phase will be closely watched by legal advocates, mental health providers and local officials in New Haven, who already contend with the intersection of behavioral health and public safety. Officials and providers will likely be among the stakeholders consulted as the task force develops recommendations.
Gov. Ned Lamont nominated Mullins as the next chief justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court, and Mullins framed the behavioral health court effort as an attempt both to better serve people with mental illness and to clear court dockets for cases that require formal adjudication.
As the task force moves forward, residents should expect public discussions about eligibility, oversight, treatment tracking and how local agencies — including law enforcement, courts and service providers in New Haven — would participate in any pilot program.
