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Judge Steven Leifman shares his remarkable journey from witnessing horrific conditions in a state psychiatric hospital as a teenager to becoming a leading judicial advocate for mental health reform.

His work in Miami-Dade County has transformed how the criminal justice system handles people with mental illness, saving millions of dollars while giving thousands a path to recovery.

• Began his advocacy at 17 when investigating abuse at a state psychiatric hospital where he found an autistic young man being improperly treated as psychotic
• Discovered as a judge that our system has transferred responsibility for the mentally ill from inadequate state hospitals to equally inadequate jails
• Found that just 97 people with severe mental illness were arrested 2,200 times over five years, costing Miami taxpayers tens of millions
• Created a comprehensive diversion program that reduced Miami arrests from 118,000 to 53,000 annually and closed one jail, saving $168 million
• Building a first-of-its-kind mental health facility with crisis stabilization, housing, employment support, primary healthcare, and court services
• Working with Chief Justices nationwide to replicate Miami's successful model in communities across America
• Emphasizes that people with mental illness are more likely to be victims than perpetrators of crime
• Advocates for early trauma intervention since 92% of incarcerated women and 75% of men with mental illness have histories of severe trauma

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