Vera Institute of Justice

Overview

This policy brief contributes to the urgent national conversation about violence against children, and provides three perspectives from Vera experts on school safety, mental illness, and the delivery of mental health services. The perspectives draw on Vera’s work with government partners in each of these areas to develop and implement ways of enhancing the safety, effectiveness, and fairness of systems. They offer recommendations on placing police in schools, considering mental health care as a public health issue, and providing mental health care service providers with the knowledge needed to prevent violence. Vera released the brief at a Congressional staff briefing in Washington, DC on February 12, 2013.