Countywide implementation of crisis intervention teams: Multiple methods, measures and sustained outcomes.

The crisis intervention team (CIT) is a tool that can be used to foster pre-booking diversion of individuals with mental illness from the criminal justice system and into community treatment services. Although CIT is often implemented solely as the training of law enforcement officers, the model stipulates that CIT is a vehicle for collaboration with community stakeholders who share a similar philosophy, as well as expanded mental health services offering a 24 hour-seven days per week drop-off option for law enforcement officers. This case study presents the countywide implementation of CIT and expands previous findings on the prevalence of officer interaction with persons with mental health issues and CIT training outcomes, including changes in officer perception of individuals with mental health issues.

Cost analysis of long-term outcomes of an urban mental health court.

Multiple studies have demonstrated decreased recidivism and increased treatment engagement for individuals with serious mental illness involved in Mental Health Courts (MHC). However, the limited availability of social and fiscal resources requires an analysis of the relationship between a program's effectiveness and its costs. Outcome costs associated with a sample of 105 participants discharged for more than 1 year - and grouped by completion status - were compared to an eligible sample not enrolled (n=45).

Short- and Long-Term Outcomes of Mental Health Court Participants by Psychiatric Diagnosis.

Objective: The goal of mental health courts (MHCs) is to decrease incarceration and recidivism while increasing continuity of mental health treatment. Although previous research has found positive outcomes, questions remain unanswered regarding the population for which MHCs work best. No studies have assessed potential differences in MHC outcomes by psychiatric diagnosis.

Mental health court outcomes by offense type at admission.

Using a statewide database of mental health court (MHC) defendants, this study examines criminal justice outcomes by target arrest offense type. Findings suggest that defendants with a felony are less likely to complete MHC but those who do are at no greater risk of recidivism post-exit than those with a misdemeanor. In terms of jail days, both completers and noncompleters with a felony had reductions in jail days; however, misdemeanor defendants, especially those who did not complete MHC, had increases.

Assessing the feasibility and fidelity of an intervention for women with violent offenses.

Women convicted of assaultive or violent offenses represent a small but important subpopulation of adults involved in the criminal justice system. The limited treatment and rehabilitation programs that are available for these women are usually developed for male offenders and do not consider factors that are especially relevant to women, such as higher rates of mental health and substance use disorders as well as their likely histories of interpersonal violence. Moreover, women's trajectories into violent behavior - as well as their trajectories out - may differ from their male counterparts.