2026 Goss Award Winners: Honoring Judges and Psychiatrists Improving How Justice Systems Support Behavioral Health

2026 recipients of the Judge Stephen S. Goss Memorial Awards for Leadership, from left to right: Dr. Cynthia Garza, the Honorable Marina L. Sabett, Dr. Altha J. Stewart, the Honorable Steve Leifman, the Honorable Kathryn E. Zenoff

The Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center, the American Psychiatric Association Foundation (APAF), and the National Center for State Courts (NCSC) are proud to announce this year’s recipients of the Judge Stephen S. Goss Memorial Awards for Leadership, presented by the Judges & Psychiatrists Leadership Initiative (JPLI).

These judges and psychiatrists are being honored for their commitment to improving outcomes for people in the justice system who have mental health or substance use needs. They were chosen from an exceptional pool of nominees representing 20 states by a national selection committee of judges, psychiatrists, and people with lived experiences. They each have made a profound impact in their field through their innovative use of research-backed and person-centered strategies to ensure fair justice and access to behavioral health care.

The 2026 recipients of a Goss Award are:

• Dr. Cynthia Garza has worked to expand access to mental health care in El Paso, Texas, and surrounding underserved communities. Under her leadership at Project Vida Health Center, she has championed efforts to integrate psychiatric services into reentry planning, reducing the high risk of people with serious mental illnesses and co-occurring disorders discontinuing treatment upon release from prison or jail. 

• The Honorable Marina L. Sabett leads the Maryland Statewide Steering Committee on Behavioral Health and the Justice System, helping to align statewide initiatives, reduce duplication, and improve coordination among the state’s justice and behavioral health partners. Her work has improved Maryland’s diversion strategies, interagency coordination, and the judiciary’s understanding of behavioral health.  

The 2026 recipients of a Lifetime Achievement Goss Award are:

• The Honorable Steve Leifman has been at the forefront of mental health and criminal justice reform in the United States for 24 years. He is well-known for founding the 11th Judicial Circuit Court Criminal Mental Health Project, which diverts people with serious mental illnesses from the criminal justice system into treatment, and for chairing the court’s Mental Health Subcommittee, which authored “Transforming Florida’s Mental Health System”—a nationally recognized blueprint for reducing unnecessary justice involvement.  
• Dr. Altha J. Stewart has spent nearly 40 years leading public mental health systems in 3 states, building partnerships between courts, public defenders, law enforcement, and community behavioral health providers to reshape how justice systems respond to people with behavioral health needs. In 2017, she became the first African American president of the American Psychiatric Association, where she used her experience and expertise to influence the national discussion on mental health care in an organization of over 40,000 members.
• The Honorable Kathryn E. Zenoff has guided statewide efforts to improve how Illinois courts respond to people with mental illness, shaping statewide policy and advancing system-wide reforms related to behavioral health and justice since 2010. Under her leadership, Illinois developed a unified, evidence-based framework for problem-solving courts operations, which was among the first of its kind in the nation.  

Learn more about the 2026 and past recipients.

“These winners demonstrated extraordinary leadership. They established new professional pathways, fostered new initiatives, and brought together unlikely partners to make substantial positive change, not only in their own communities, but in their states and beyond,” said Hallie Fader-Towe, strategy director of justice and health initiatives for the CSG Justice Center.

About the Award and Ceremony

The late Judge Goss was a tireless advocate for people with mental health or substance use needs. He founded the first felony mental health court in Georgia and one of the earlier felony diversion programs in the United States.

This annual award was created in his honor in 2021 by JPLI, a partnership between the CSG Justice Center, APAF, and NCSC that helps judges and psychiatrists keep up with the latest research and best practices through trainings and resources to improve judicial, community, and systemic responses to people with behavioral health needs who are involved in the justice system. JPLI is on track to train 10,000 judges by 2030, hitting 5,325 just last month.

The awards will be presented during the virtual 2026 Judges & Psychiatrists Leadership Summit on Thursday, November 19. The summit is free, open to the public and will include a panel on the evolving role of judicial leadership with the incoming and outgoing co-chairs of JPLI.

Register for the 2026 Judges & Psychiatrists Leadership Summit.