Best Practices For The Mentally Ill In The Criminal Justice System

This timely brief resource introduces a new evidence-based model for treatment of mentally ill individuals in jails, with emphasis on community-based options. Forensic mental health experts review police alternatives to arresting mentally ill persons in confrontations, the efficacy of problem-solving courts, and continuity of care between jail and community. The book's best-practices approach extends to frequently related issues such as addiction, domestic violence, juvenile considerations, and trauma and describes successful programs coordinating judicial and clinical systems. These guidelines for decriminalizing non-violent behaviors and making appropriate services available to those with mental problems should also help address issues affecting the justice system, such as overcrowding. Included in the coverage: The Best Practices Model. Best practices in law enforcement crisis interventions with the mentally ill. Problem-solving courts and therapeutic jurisprudence. Competency restoration programs. A review of best practices for the treatment of persons with mental illness in jail. Conclusions, recommendations, and helpful appendices. With its practical vision for systemic improvement, Best Practices Model for Intervention with the Mentally Ill in the Criminal Justice System is progressive reading for practitioners in the mental health field, especially practitioners working with inmates, as well as for stakeholders in the law enforcement and justice systems.

Written by a committee of the Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry, People With Mental Illness in the Criminal Justice System: Answering a Cry for Help represents the collective wisdom of leaders in community psychiatry and is the third in a series of successful publications that have used Dear Abby letters as source material. The letters, submitted by readers with experience with mental illness and the criminal justice system, constitute a rich, real-world repository for the case stories presented in this fascinating volume. Using the experiences shared in the letters, the authors employ the Sequential Intercept Model to present a series of chapters offering detailed recommendations for psychiatrists, group practices, and criminal justice entities on partnering with individuals who are at risk and their families, with the goal of improving outcomes. The book's many features and functions make it relevant to a diverse audience: The Dear Abby letters on which the book's stories are based are heartfelt and human, providing a depth of emotion and understanding that cannot be found elsewhere, and the down-to-earth writing style and real-world material are designed to be useful and compelling to both practitioner and layperson. The case-based recommendations for effective interventions are very specific and practical to promote and enhance clinical skill development. A robust set of appendices presents information for professionals on a variety of critically important topics, including principles for criminal justice and community psychiatry; sequential intercept mapping; stages of engagement with the criminal justice system; HIPAA regulations; screening and mental status/criminal justice history; essential systems of care; and the risk-need-responsivity model. An extensive section of criminal justice/mental health online resources addresses areas such as law enforcement, courts, corrections, evidence-based practices, veterans, organizations, and miscellaneous topics, providing avenues of information and assistance for individuals, families, and clinicians. This simple, evidence-based guide challenges psychiatrists to initiate changes in their clinical work; in the operation of their agencies, programs, and teams; and in their partnerships with local criminal justice and behavioral health providers to positively impact people with behavioral health conditions in the criminal justice system. Implementing the approaches described so eloquently in People With Mental Illness in the Criminal Justice System: Answering a Cry for Help can potentially reduce the overrepresentation of people with mental illnesses in justice settings, provide alternatives to incarceration, and divert individuals who do not pose a public safety risk from jail.

This comprehensive book addresses the complex issues associated with the criminalization of mentally ill offenders in the United States and the ways in which social workers and other mental health professionals can best channel their efforts to create better services and treatment. Specialists in law enforcement, community-based mental health and outreach, the legal community, the corrections environment, and substance abuse providers present best practices and programs that offer rehabilitation alternatives to mentally ill offenders. Unique to this volume is the perspective provided by key players of the criminal justice system including a judge, a prosecutor, an advocate, a defense attorney, and a mentally ill offender. The last section provides in-depth research into the challenges of placing the dually-diagnosed offender into alternative-to-incarceration programs.

Discover how to best provide effective mental health treatments for criminal offenders Prisons and jails are increasingly being filled with inmates who suffer from mental illness and need treatment. Mental Health Issues in the Criminal Justice System examines a wide range of the latest research and learned perspectives focusing on the intersection of mental health services and the criminal justice system. Top experts and academics discuss mental health treatment, its availability, it effectiveness, and just how cost effective it truly is to treat those in prisons and jails. This valuable text provides a broad interdisciplinary view of the topic and presents important qualitative and quantitative research of specific topics, such as the effectiveness of prisoner representatives, the causal link between incarceration and mental illness, and the expanding rates of correctional offenders with mental illness. Mental Health Issues in the Criminal Justice System discusses a wide range of pertinent topics focusing on the viability and functioning of mental health treatment models in prisons and jails. Recommendations on desired correctional mental health programs are presented, along with strategies to better provide therapeutic services. Respected experts provide practical suggestions on research that needs to be addressed in the future. The book is extensively referenced and includes several tables and figures to clearly present data. Other topics in Mental Health Issues in the Criminal Justice System include: the prevalence of mental illness in jails and prisons—and the duty society has to provide appropriate mental health treatment three components critical to the success of jail diversion programs ethics of doing research on prisoners an extended care community corrections model the experience of mitigation experts in first degree murder cases in the penalty phase of the trial the criminalization of the mentally ill because of fragmentation of mental health services correctional offenders with mental illness (OMIs)—and their differences from the general offender population the role of the helping alliance in juvenile probation settings and much more! Mental Health Issues in the Criminal Justice System is a timely, insightful text for anyone in the criminal justice or mental health fields, educators, graduate students, and upper-level undergraduate students.

Correctional Mental Health is a broad-based, balanced guide for students who are learning to treat criminal offenders in a correctional mental health practice. Featuring a wide selection of readings, this edited text offers a thorough grounding in theory, current research, professional practice, and clinical experience. It emphasizes a biopsychosocial approach to caring for the estimated 20% of all U.S. prisoners who have a serious mental disorder. Providing a balance between theoretical and practical perspectives throughout, the text also provides readers with a big-picture framework for assessing current correctional mental health and criminal justice issues, offering clear strategies for addressing these challenges.

In this student-friendly text, a team of respected scholars balances practical knowledge of how the mental healthcare system operates in conjunction with the criminal justice system, with an analytical framework that looks at how the quality of that collaboration is reflected in the issues, processes and outcomes of both institutions. Professors and students will benefit from an accessible new text that informs and explores: The role of mental healthcare law and procedure in the criminal justice system How mentally ill clients are processed through the criminal justice system Mental healthcare terms, resources, and treatment programs Contemporary issues in mental health and criminal justice, such as the treatment of mentally ill juveniles inside the criminal justice system, and lack of full access to mental healthcare for at-risk groups Discussion of systemic interface and entropy, two central themes to guide student analysis of issues and examples drawn from real life Mental Health and Criminal Justice is designed with a wealth of features for study and review, including: Learning Objectives Framing the Issues Prologues and Epilogues that frame issues and provide vivid examples Key Terms, highlighted in the text and defined in the Glossary Text boxes that expand on points of interest Summary and Chapter Review Questions at the end of each chapter

Written by a committee of the Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry, People With Mental Illness in the Criminal Justice System: Answering a Cry for Help represents the collective wisdom of leaders in community psychiatry and is the third in a series of successful publications that have used Dear Abby letters as source material. The letters, submitted by readers with experience with mental illness and the criminal justice system, constitute a rich, real-world repository for the case stories presented in this fascinating volume. Using the experiences shared in the letters, the authors employ the Sequential Intercept Model to present a series of chapters offering detailed recommendations for psychiatrists, group practices, and criminal justice entities on partnering with individuals who are at risk and their families, with the goal of improving outcomes. The book's many features and functions make it relevant to a diverse audience: The Dear Abby letters on which the book's stories are based are heartfelt and human, providing a depth of emotion and understanding that cannot be found elsewhere, and the down-to-earth writing style and real-world material are designed to be useful and compelling to both practitioner and layperson. The case-based recommendations for effective interventions are very specific and practical to promote and enhance clinical skill development. A robust set of appendices presents information for professionals on a variety of critically important topics, including principles for criminal justice and community psychiatry; sequential intercept mapping; stages of engagement with the criminal justice system; HIPAA regulations; screening and mental status/criminal justice history; essential systems of care; and the risk-need-responsivity model. An extensive section of criminal justice/mental health online resources addresses areas such as law enforcement, courts, corrections, evidence-based practices, veterans, organizations, and miscellaneous topics, providing avenues of information and assistance for individuals, families, and clinicians. This simple, evidence-based guide challenges psychiatrists to initiate changes in their clinical work; in the operation of their agencies, programs, and teams; and in their partnerships with local criminal justice and behavioral health providers to positively impact people with behavioral health conditions in the criminal justice system. Implementing the approaches described so eloquently in People With Mental Illness in the Criminal Justice System: Answering a Cry for Help can potentially reduce the overrepresentation of people with mental illnesses in justice settings, provide alternatives to incarceration, and divert individuals who do not pose a public safety risk from jail.

This book provides an overview of the historical and theoretical foundations underlying mental health courts. It offers a thorough description of a mental health court operation, including the role of each court team member, and guides those seeking to establish a mental health court. The authors analyze the successes, failures, and long-term desirability of these courts.