The State-wide Community and Court Liaison Service in New South Wales reduces the frequency with which people with a mental health problem come into contact with the court system, according to this report. This is one of the key findings to emerge from an evaluation of services designed to assist the courts in dealing with adults and adolescents who have a mental health problem.

The NSW Government established the SCCLS in 1999 in response to the high rates of mental illness among prisoners. In 2006 a comparable service was established for adolescents with mental health problems.

The majority of those interviewed felt that the impact of both services had been positive and were effective in assisting the court with mental health matters, however a number of recommendations were made for improvement. The recommendations included expanding the service, increasing the provision of education and training on mental health matters and increasing awareness of the services amongst relevant groups through further advertising of the services.