Mental health court, a third leg to Butler County's treatment-based court programming, is under way.

The court is designed to divert defendants whose mental health issues are the primary cause of their crimes away from the traditional justice system and instead give them treatment and tools for rehabilitation and readjustment.

“We recognize that mental health issues are faced by an increasing number of defendants who pass through the criminal justice system,” said Tom Holman, deputy court administrator. “We do not do them or the community a service if we do not address the root cause of their behaviors.”

Participants would be referred by members of the legal community, including district judges and attorneys.

A treatment team and a judge would help design a person-specific program for the defendant. If he succeeds, he would be offered a reduction in the sentence for the crime he committed. If he fails the program, he would go back into the traditional court system.

Butler County Judge Timothy McCune, who will oversee the treatment court, said defendants normally would not be thrown out of the program the first time they slip up.

Since 2013, McCune has supervised a similar program offered to veterans, and since 2011, Butler County Judge William Shaffer has supervised a program offered to specific defendants whose crimes are related to drug addiction.

Holman and McCune said it is too soon to measure the success of those programs by way of statistics.

However, President Judge Thomas Doerr said the treatment courts are modeled after programs elsewhere that have good track records.

“Any treatment court is very beneficial to the community because it helps the person who is in the system. It helps resolve the underlying issue and chances are they will no longer commit crimes, which helps the community,” the judge said.

“And in the long run, it's cost efficient because the most expensive thing you can do in this situation is incarcerate someone,” Doerr said.

The mental health court will begin June 1, with the first court actions taking place within a month afterward.

Up to 30 people could be accepted into the program this year. Currently, there are more than a dozen people in veterans court and about 20 in drug court.

“We have seen that close supervision and making sure people do what they need to do to keep from using illegal drugs and alcohol and keep them taking their medication and following treatment and counseling recommendations will help them stay healthy and ultimately out of jail,” McCune said.

The Butler County Commissioners on Wednesday accepted a $125,000 grant from the Staunton Farms Foundation to kick off the program. The grant will pay the wages and benefits of a probation officer, a part-time clerk, incidental related expenses and a paid evaluation of the program.

Although there are no immediate plans to start any other treatment courts, Doerr said it would benefit the community to have a program available to drunken driving offenders that offers treatment more intensive that what already is mandated by the state.