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It Is a Different Kind of Thing: Treatment Issues and Gender in an EmergingMental Health CourtStephanie Hartwell, University of Massachusetts Boston (stephanie.hartwell@umb.edu)Mental health courts are emerging as an alternative to incarceration for individuals with mentalhealth issues that come before the courts. They are yet another tool in the tool kit related tospecialty police training, jail diversion, and court clinics, offering mental health services in nontraditionalsettings. While each of these tools appears to be theoretically sound, they are also lastresort measures that require empirical evidence of effectiveness and efficacy not just in general,but specifically across the populations they convene and serve. We know very little about theparticipants of mental health courts, particularly relating to their clinical, criminal history, andbackground characteristics. This paper examines all referrals and participants (N=57) in a startup(July 2011) mental health court in Massachusetts with an eye towards treatment issues andgender. There exists a vast literature on gender variation across the criminal justice system fromcrime commission to the mechanisms through which females come in to contact with thecriminal justice system (reasons for committing crime, types of crime) and are subsequentlyprocessed. Attention to gender-sensitive programming across criminal justice jail diversion toolshas been lacking. This paper examines the literature and uses a mixed method approach toexplore early trends in gender related treatment issues for mental health court participants.The Role of Housing in Mental Health Court Graduation and Post-ProgramCriminal RecidivismNahama Broner, RTI International, New York, USA (nbroner@rti.org)Studies have shown the role of homelessness in criminal justice involvement and violence, butfew have focused on the role of MHCs in providing support to attain housing stability or the roleof being housed as a protective factor for post MHC completion re-offending. Over an eight yearperiod, 770 adults were diverted through the Bronx Mental Health Court (MHC) intocommunity-based treatment and wellness supports. This presentation first describes the role ofthe MHC in client housing stability and the relationship of housing stability to graduation and inprogramoffending (controlling for pre-offending, MHC entrance substance use, homelessness,demographic characteristics, and time at risk). Findings are then presented for housing stabilityand being permanently housed at MHC exit as a predictor of 12-month post-MHC criminaljustice involvement (re-arrest, re-offense severity, and days re-incarcerated), controlling fordemographic characteristics, pre-MHC offending, graduation, substance use at time of mentalhealth court completion, and days at risk. Given the increasing emphasis on provision of housingto criminal justice specialized court and reentry populations, it is important to undertand the roleof housing in MHC and its contribution to recidivism reduction.75