2025 Nominations Now Open for Judges and Psychiatrists Improving Lives and Behavioral Health

Judge Stephen S. Goss

In 2021, the Judges and Psychiatrists Leadership Initiative (JPLI) created two awards in honor of the late Judge Stephen S. Goss, honoring one judge and one psychiatrist who have demonstrated extraordinary leadership in improving the lives of people with behavioral health needs in the criminal justice system.  

Since then, the Judge Stephen S. Goss Memorial Award for Leadership has expanded to include Lifetime Achievement Awards and, in 2024, the first-ever Team Collaboration Award. Together, these awards carry forward Judge Goss’s legacy and his commitment to rethinking how the justice system responds to people with behavioral health needs.  

This year’s winners will be presented with their award during a virtual awards ceremony in early December 2025.  

Nominations

Anyone interested in nominating a judge or psychiatrist whose work demonstrates excellence and leadership must submit a nomination form by 11:59 p.m. ET October 24, 2025.  

Judges and psychiatrists who want to be considered for these awards can also nominate themselves and submit the form by the deadline. 

Award recipients will be chosen by a national selection committee of judges, psychiatrists, people with lived experience, and JPLI leaders who will review each nomination and determine eligibility based on the impact of the nominee’s work, including both their use of research-backed strategies and their innovative spirit.  

Past Winners

Last year’s winners included Judge Wes Curry, presiding judge of the Hattiesburg, Mississippi, Municipal Court and its Behavioral Health Court, whose success led to the development of other treatment courts in the state for drugs and domestic violence; and Dr. Jennifer Piel, a forensic psychiatrist and director of the University of Washington Center for Mental Health, Policy, and the Law, whose work includes educating criminal defense attorneys on reducing suicide risks among their clients and supporting women working in high-security correctional settings.   

Recipients of the Judge Stephen S. Goss Lifetime Achievement Awards were Judge Marcia P. Hirsch, presiding judge of the Queens, New York, Drug Treatment Court, the DWI Treatment Court, the Mental Health Court, the Veterans Court, and the Drug Diversion Court; and Dr. Terry A. Kupers, a psychiatrist and professor emeritus at The Wright Institute in Berkeley, California, whose expertise centers on mental health and incarceration, particularly the detrimental effects of solitary confinement. 

In its first Team Collaboration Award, JPLI also honored three leaders from the Center for Law, Brain & Behavior (CLBB) at Massachusetts General Hospital in 2024: Dr. Judith G. Edersheim, Judge Nancy Gertner, and Dr. Robert Kinscherff. The CLBB—whose mission focuses on putting actionable neuroscience in the hands of judges, lawyers, policymakers, and journalists—has focused its work on an institutional change model and its expansion from federal to state courts.  

Nominate a judge or psychiatrist.