Re-Arrest Rate Lower for Illinois Juveniles Receiving Mental Health Treatment
Nov 18, 2009, Juvenile Justice Initiative
According to a project funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, 66 percent of youth involved in the juvenile justice system had a diagnosable psychiatric condition.
The Mental Health Juvenile Justice (MHJJ) program administered by the Illinois Department of Human Services’ Division of Mental Health was designed to meet the needs of youth, with mental health needs involved in the juvenile justice system. The program began as a pilot project in four counties in 2000. Based on its initial success, the MHJJ Program has since expanded to all Illinois counties with a juvenile detention center and 34 counties.
The Division of Mental Health funds 21 local community agencies to employ a specially trained, MHJJ liaison to work with the local Juvenile Courts and Juvenile Detention Centers. MHJJ Liaisons are Masters level clinicians who assess each youth for the presence of serious mental illness. The liaison develops a treatment plan outlining needs, strengths, community services, and funding. The MHJJ program provides linkages to substance abuse treatment, family therapy, psychiatric services, educational advocacy, job training, psychological assessment, court advocacy, group therapy, individual therapy, recreational therapy, and mentoring.
Since the MHJJ program’s inception in 2000:
- Over 12,000 Children Referred for Screenings.
- Over 5,500 Children Identified as Having Significant Mental Health Issues.
- Over 4,500 of These Children Received Community Treatment.
According to program evaluation results of the MHJJ program by the Mental Health Services & Policy Program at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, when youth with mental illnesses involved in the juvenile justice system receive community treatment, their clinical symptoms improve, their school attendance goes up, and their recidivism or reoffending rate goes down dramatically. As the chart below shows, the re-arrest rate for youth in detention is 72 percent while the re-arrest rate for those involved in the MHJJ program in 2009 is slightly over 20 percent.
The evaluation showed that youth with affective and psychiatric disorders can be accurately identified and linked to community-based services. This vital screening, assessment, treatment planning, and linkage not only results in clinical improvement but also with reduced likelihood of re-arrest. With relatively inexpensive interventions, these youth can be more effectively served with mental health services with better long-term outcomes.
This article originally appeared in the September newsletter of the Juvenile Justice Initiative (http://www.jjustice.org/).