Judge Steve Leifman is the Associate Administrative Judge of the Miami-Dade County Court – Criminal Division. From 2007 – 2010, Judge Leifman served as Special Advisor on Criminal Justice and Mental Health for the Supreme Court of Florida. In this capacity, Judge Leifman was responsible for chairing the Court’s Mental Health Subcommittee, which authored a ground-breaking report entitled, Transforming Florida’s Mental Health System. This report, which has received considerable state and national recognition, outlines recommendations with the goal of decreasing inappropriate and costly involvement of people with mental illnesses in the justice system.
For the past twenty-four years, Judge Leifman has been at the forefront of mental health and criminal justice reform movement in the United States.
From 2010 to 2018, Judge Leifman chaired the Florida Supreme Court’s Task Force on Substance Abuse and Mental Health Issues in the Court. He chaired the Steering Committee on Problem Solving Courts for the Supreme Court of Florida from 2018 to 2024. In 2000, Judge Leifman established the Eleventh Judicial Circuit Criminal Mental Health Project, which aims to divert people with serious mental illnesses from the criminal justice system into treatment. He has chaired this project since its inception in 2000.
Judge Leifman is the co-chair of the American Bar Association Criminal Justice Mental Health Committee and co-chair of the Judges and Psychiatrists Leadership Initiative. He is a member of the Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry, a Lecturer in Psychiatry at Columbia University Medical School and a Voluntary Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Miami School of Medicine.
Judge Leifman was appointed to serve on the Conference of Chief Justices and Conference of State Court Administrators National Judicial Task Force to Examine State Courts’ Response to Mental Illness and to the Interdepartmental Serious Mental Illness Coordinating Committee (ISMICC) established by the 21st Century Cures Act.
In 2015, Judge Leifman received the William H. Rehnquist Award for Judicial Excellence. One of the nation’s highest judicial honors presented by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. at the United States Supreme Court. The Rehnquist Award is presented annually to a state court judge who exemplifies judicial excellence, integrity, fairness, and professional ethics.
Judge Leifman is also the first recipient to receive the Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Award for Judicial Excellence (2015). Judge Leifman was named by New Times as one of Miami-Dade’s most interesting people of 2017 and he was named a 2016 Governing Magazine Public Official of the Year.
Judge Leifman was awarded the 2018 Pardes Humanitarian Prize in Mental Health and a 2019 Presidential Commendation by the American Psychiatric Association.
In 2024, he received the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Humane Letters from Nova Southeastern University for his commitment to improving the mental health and criminal justice systems. Judge Leifman is also the recipient of the 2024 Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce Alvah H. Chapman, Jr. Award of Excellence.
On October 22, 2023, Judge Leifman was bestowed the Papal Medal Benemerenti from Pope Francis by Archbishop Thomas Wenski for his work in the judicial system on behalf of people with mental illnesses.
Judge Leifman has authored and published numerous articles and book chapters and has been featured in many national and local television programs, radio programs, and articles regarding mental health and the criminal justice system. His most recent co-authored article was published in the Atlantic Magazine on May 30, 2022.
Judge Leifman is the subject of the Documentary, The Definition of Insanity which aired nationally on PBS on April 14, 2020 – https://doifilm.com/