scholarly journals Mental Health Treatment and Criminal Justice Outcomes

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Frank ◽  
Thomas McGuire
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Mental Health Treatment ◽  
Health Treatment

Overview of Forensic Mental Health Assessments

2019 ◽  
pp. 43-76
Author(s):  
Thomas L. Hafemeister
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Mental Disorder ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Mental Health Treatment ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Forensic Mental Health ◽  
Health Treatment ◽  
Clinical Evaluations ◽  
Health Assessments

Chapter 2 presents an overview of forensic mental health assessments and their deployment within the criminal justice system. This chapter describes how forensic mental health assessments are conducted, the multiple steps taken in the course of these assessments, and the challenges and tensions associated with providing them within the criminal justice system. In addition, it delineates their distinctive nature and how they differ from clinical evaluations and mental health treatment. This chapter also discusses a key question that frequently arises in conjunction with these assessments, namely, distinguishing a genuine report of a mental disorder and its impact from malingering (i.e., the faking of an illness), and strategies for making this distinction.

Beyond the “Revolving Door?”: Incentives and Criminal Recidivism in a Mental Health Court

2017 ◽  
Vol 44 (9) ◽  
pp. 1141-1162 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen A. Snedker ◽  
Lindsey R. Beach ◽  
Katie E. Corcoran
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Mental Health Treatment ◽  
Event History Analysis ◽  
Negative Binomial ◽  
Negative Binomial Regression ◽  
Revolving Door ◽  
Criminal Recidivism ◽  
Health Treatment ◽  
Criminal Charges

Specialized mental health courts (MHCs) address the growing problem of defendants with mental illness cycling through the criminal justice system. Employing a mixed-methods approach, this article explores if MHCs can slow the “revolving door” of criminal justice involvement. We use quantitative data to evaluate the effectiveness of one MHC on different measures of criminal recidivism with logistic regression, event history analysis, and negative binomial regression. Modeling strategies report that graduates of MHC, defendants offered a dismissal of criminal charges, and defendants who maintained the same noncrisis mental health treatment while in court as they had prior to court had lower odds of new criminal charges, a longer time to a new criminal charge, and fewer new criminal charges. Qualitative data—court observations and interviews—suggest that providing incentives for program compliance, connecting defendants to planned mental health treatment services, and court completion are central to reducing recidivism.

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