Steven Leifman

For the past twenty-five years, Judge Steve Leifman has been at the forefront of the mental health and criminal justice reform movement in the United States, becoming one of the leading authorities on mental health and justice issues in the United States. His efforts have fueled a national movement to improve, reform, and modernize the states’ and courts’ response to people with serious mental illnesses. In 2000, he created Florida’s 11th Judicial Circuit Criminal Mental Health Project, later renamed to the Jail Diversion Project (JDP), which has since become a blueprint for criminal justice reform across the country. In 2023, Judge Leifman was bestowed the Papal Medal Benemerenti from Pope Francis for his work in the judicial system on behalf of people with mental illnesses. He is the recipient of the William H. Rehnquist Award for Judicial Excellence, is on the Board of Directors of the American Psychiatric Association Foundation, and is member of the National Leadership Forum for Behavioral Health and Criminal Justice Service and the American Bar Association Task Force on Criminal Justice Mental Health Standards. Judge Leifman and his work have been featured on CBS News, PBS Newshour, CNN, NBC Nightly News, NPR’s All Things Considered, The Atlantic, the New York Times, the Washington Post, USA Today, and the Miami Herald among many others. He lives in Miami, Florida.