Steven Leifman

Steven "Steve" Leifman is an associate administrative judge for the Eleventh Judicial Circuit Court of Florida. He has served as Special Advisor on Criminal Justice and Mental Health for the Supreme Court of Florida since 2007. He is known for his efforts to keep mentally ill individuals out of prisons and jails.

Leifman received his Bachelor of Science degree from American University in 1981 and his J.D. from Florida State University in 1986.

Leifman was chair of the Court's Mental Health Subcommittee for three years (2007-2010). In 2000, he started the Eleventh Judicial Circuit Criminal Mental Health Project, which aims to divert mentally ill people who might otherwise end up in the criminal justice system into treatment centers.

In 2012, Leifman received the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation's Productive Lives Award. On November 19, 2015, he became the first Floridian judge to receive the William H. Rehnquist Award for Judicial Excellence from Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts. As of 2014, he is a member of the board of the American Psychiatric Foundation.

An order issued by Leifman on January 13, 2016 was challenged by a Notice of Appeal filed by a prominent civil liberties advocate. Warren Redlich accuses Judge Leifman of violating Article V, Section 17 of the Florida Constitution due to the manner in which the judge handled an alleged violation of the U.S. constitution's fourth amendment by Florida police officers during a controversial sobriety checkpoint operation on a Florida highway.