Criminal risk and mental illness in psychiatric inpatient units: An opportunity to provide psychological services for unmet criminogenic needs.

Although the overrepresentation of people with mental illness in the criminal justice system is known, research is needed to identify the frequency of criminal justice involvement and criminogenic treatment needs in inpatient populations to improve continuity of care and access to appropriate treatments. The purpose of this study is to document the frequency of criminal justice involvement among people receiving inpatient community care, as has been done for persons with mental illness in correctional institutions, and to test the association between criminogenic risk and psychiatric symptomatology. The present study uses two samples ( = 94 and = 142) of adults from two separate acute psychiatric inpatient hospitals in Texas.

A comparison of criminogenic risk factors and psychiatric symptomatology between psychiatric inpatients with and without criminal justice involvement.

Objective: Research suggests distinct criminal risk factors, not mental illness, are more strongly associated with most criminal behaviors. This notion has been supported among inpatient persons with mental illness (PMI) when examining antisocial cognitions; however, other key criminogenic risk factors (the Big Four and Central Eight risk factors) have not been examined among psychiatric inpatient PMI.

Hypotheses: We hypothesized that criminal justice (CJ)-involved PMI would endorse significantly greater criminogenic risk compared to non-CJ-involved PMI and that these risk factors would significantly and accurately identify whether PMI had CJ involvement.

Specialty courts: Who's in and are they working?

The effectiveness of specialty courts has been well established in the literature; however, previous studies have not taken into account referral biases that may exist based on offenders' race, socioeconomic status (SES), attorney status, and so forth. The current study hypothesized that (a) Participants who are racially diverse, of lower SES, and represented by privately retained attorneys would be referred less frequently to specialty courts, and (b) Participants in specialty courts would evidence reductions in missed court appointments and failed urinary analyses (UAs) compared with peers not enrolled in specialty courts. Participants (N = 274) were probationers who were involved in 1 of 3 specialty court programs (i.

Attitudes toward hiring applicants with mental illness and criminal justice involvement: the impact of education and experience.

Individuals with mental health diagnoses, as well as those involved in the criminal justice system, experience a number of barriers in the recovery and reintegration progress, including access to stable, prosocial employment opportunities. Employment for these populations is important for establishing financial security, reducing unstructured leisure time, increasing self-worth, and improving interpersonal skills. However, research has demonstrated that individuals with psychiatric and/or criminal backgrounds may experience stigmatizing attitudes from employers that impede their ability to find adequate work.