Mental Health And The Juvenile Justice System

Juvenile justice settings, especially in Texas, were not designed as sites for comprehensive psychological and psychiatric treatment of adolescents’ mental disorders. On national, state, and local levels there has been a major increase in the interest of mental health needs within the juvenile justice system. Evidence-based research and data has become more available with societies interest into this matter. A continuous struggle with Texas policymakers and officials is identifying and properly treating mentally ill juveniles and keeping them out of the justice system. Acknowledging established data and comparing it to current Texas mandates helps seek recommendations for improvement within all levels and jurisdictions of the Texas juvenile justice system.

This paper intends to examine the relationship between mental health (specifically individuals who exhibit mental illness) and the criminal justice system. The paper will be broken down into areas focusing on the issues that exists for and between the law enforcement officials and those who have mental illness and end up involved in the penial justice system. Individuals who have mental health issues are special cases that will be addressed within this paper with the focus being how they end upon the wrong side of the law and more importantly how they are treated by the criminal justice system when this occurs. By studying this subject from a historical context will enable the writer to establish how the criminal justice system in this country

Most of us grow up being taught to protect those who cannot protect themselves. Social workers, especially, are exhorted by their code of ethics to challenge injustice “particularly with and on behalf of vulnerable and oppressed individuals and groups of people” (National Association of Social Workers, 2008). So why are as many of 70% of those in local and state juvenile justice systems dealing with their illness in correctional facilities (National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), 2016; Shufelt & Cocozza, 2006)? These are the national numbers. So what about in our own state of Virginia? The Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) conducted a study of juveniles in detention homes in 2002 and that found that more than 40% of males and almost 60% of females needed mental health services. As many as 7% of the males and 15% of the females needed this assistance urgently (Juvenile Offending, n.d.). Even more disturbing is the fact that nationally up to two out of three of that 70% was actually a dual diagnosis of more than one mental illness, often including a substance abuse disorder. One in five of those same juveniles were so severely disabled by their illness that they were unable to function as a young person and were seriously in danger of not developing into a functional adult (Hammond, 2007). Juveniles are considered more difficult to treat for mental illness due to developmental issues (Hammond, 2007) and rapidly changing biological and mental makeup.

To properly evaluate the effectiveness, outcomes, and cost of the Therapeutic Detention Center for Juveniles program it will be necessary to conduct a mixed methods research approach that includes both qualitative and quantitative analysis. Fifty percent of juveniles who have been ordered by the court to this program will be randomly selected to be enrolled into a 5-year study. Juveniles diagnosed with a mental illness based off DSM-5 criteria who have been court ordered to the Therapeutic Detention Center will be eligible for the study. Consent should be obtained by both the juvenile and their parent/guardian for enrollment.

The research study conducted by Anna Harrison focuses on the psychotic disorders that exist in incarcerated juveniles. The study examines the patterns of incarceration among the youth and how it exasperates development or continuance of mental disorders. Harrison emphasizes on the importance of studying factors that contribute to mental illnesses within juveniles. For the purpose of this study, Harrison collected a random sample of 1,829 juveniles entered into the Juvenile Treatment Detention Center (JTDC) in Chicago, Illinois. The sample selected was stratified by race/ethnicity, gender, age and legal status, which defined whether the individual was in the Juvenile Court or Adult Court at the time of the study. Baseline interviews were conducted while the juveniles were detained and continued over the next fourteen years for a follow

Modernizing Mental Healthcare in The Juvenile Justice System Rhoshunda Ellis Walden University Modernizing Mental Healthcare in The Juvenile Justice System Introduction As a Human Services Professional with a background in criminal justice, this article will focus on accessing and helping juvenile offenders in the United States struggling with mental health disorders. For sentenced juveniles with behavioral problems and concerns of mental health, being included in a juvenile mental health court can provide psychological, behavioral, educational, social, and familial clinical assessments for use in determining best approaches to treating the underlying causes of many delinquent behaviors. Throughout the 1930s, the Chicago School of Psychology recognized treatment for juvenile offenders that focused on the economic and social aspect of the criminal activities of juveniles, (Granello & Hanna, 2003). During this time, juvenile courts were established and designed to yield an alternative form punishment of juvenile offenders in an adult criminal system. Emphasis was being placed on rehabilitation instead of punishment; however, in the mid-1980s punishment of juvenile offenders become the top priority. Because of the severe wave of juvenile during the late 1980s, States used the beginning of the 1990s to revise their juvenile statues that they relied so heavily upon. "Under new laws, certain charges or offenses required legal responses based on the nature of the offense"

When a juvenile faces the court system in the United States it is much different than when an adult faces the court system. The main concern for a juvenile is not to get the punishment they may deserve but rather the court system focuses on treatment. They do this by using rehabilitation as a major tool, not to try and get them healthy per say, but rather to create better choices for the juvenile in the future. This includes the court system looking into the juvenile’s past history along with a psychological approach in order to meet his or her needs. The juvenile then faces a hearing which involves looking into not only the juvenile’s history, but also social needs in order to better accommodate them for their “healing” process. On the other

When addressing the disparity of mental illness in the juvenile justice system, we must modify our current approaches to juvenile offenders, which begins with sentencing practices of the judiciary. It is crucial that judges consider the safety of the public when they are sentencing juvenile offenders; however, judges should guarantee that they take the well-being of the juvenile into consideration and use this to determine an appropriate intervention. To encourage this behavior among the judiciary, I propose the instillation of training sessions with mental health professionals. These sessions would be designed to modify judicial approaches to juvenile court cases. I envision that these sessions will work to identify the implicit biases regarding

The juvenile system in the United States has a long history but varies from state to state. “It started around 170 years ago, with the opening of Massachusetts’ Lyman School for Boys in 1846 (Miller, 1991), American reformers began experimenting with a “new” approach to troubled youth” according to Patrick McCarthy author of the article “The Future of Youth Justice: A Community-Based Alternative to the Youth Prison Model”. The juvenile justice system has changed dramatically over the years, it has come a long way but we are still improving on the issues we have had in the past, currently have, and the ones we need to fix for future generations. The goal of this paper is to focus on the juvenile justice system in the state of New Mexico, where it started, what it currently is, and what changes could be implemented for a better future.

In America there is a problem with juveniles who has mental health issues receiving the help that they need in order to progress. Mental heath problems are usually frowned upon in society. Many individuals who have the mental deficit get often closely associated with behavioral issues. The attitudes and social norms behind the way in which we handle situations of juveniles being mentally incompetent and not receiving the help they need because they get thrown in jail instead of being rehabilitated. The statistics behind the referrals of the juveniles suggests that they are not receiving the help that they need in order to progress. Based on a study taken to see how many of the juveniles was actually receiving the care needed, the results were, there are 69% of juveniles that have a mental health deficit in the juvenile detention center and has not been referred to a psychological facility, even when they fit the criteria.

The act of justice is to provide both fairness and equality for both the victim and offender. With the increase of juvenile offenders, the YOA was enhanced therefore forming the YCJA, which would ultimately focus on ending the cycle of recidivism among young offenders, and as a result of the YCJA being introduced, 42% of overall crime by youths had been declined from the year 2000 to 2014. In doing this the YCJA’s main goals were and still are to recuperate the youthful offenders by focusing on rehabilitation and reintegration, and looking at the underlying cause of the crime. Although not acknowledging the suffering and constant fear that the victim and community go through, as the result of the crime.

Incarceration of minors in adult prisons has been found to have low rehabilitative potential and as such results in increased engagement in criminal activities (Aizer & Doyle, 2015). Many juvenile offenders have been found to hail from particularly disadvantaged families. In addition, a significant number have a history of drug abuse. Actually, 40-70% of the young offenders have a history of substance abuse and dependence (Aizer & Doyle, 2015). Apart from drug abuse, some of these offenders may have a history of mistreatment and even psychiatric disorders.

In the year of 2004, Investigations Division Report the U. S. House of Representatives found that two-thirds of juveniles who were housed om a detention facility were awaiting community mental health treatment. That is more than half the juveniles that enter the facilities. Within the facilities, many of the juveniles will bring their problems to receive attention. 60% of juveniles that are incarcerated reported that they have anger problems. Additionally, more than 50% of juveniles incarcerated reported that they have feelings of depression and anxiety. Many times their anxiety stems from the worry and loneliness that they develop from being isolated in the facility. Suicidal thoughts are a latent dysfunction of these mental health problems. Reports show that one-fifth of juveniles incarcerated have suicidal thoughts or have previously attempted suicide. Mental health is a serious, growing problem within the criminal justice system that needs to be given attention at a young age. Lacking the attention will only lead to worse problems as the years advance. Early intervention is always the best answer to such

In the past, children who were apprehended for committing crimes, were tried in the same courts as adults. Furthermore, when the children were found guilty, they were given the same punishments as the adults (Austin, Johnson & Gregoriou, 2000). Today, a separate justice system exists for children who commit crimes. The concept of a distinct justice system and treatment for juveniles has come under attack in recent years because communities across the nation began to experience dramatically increased rates of juvenile crime. The increasing incidence and severity of crimes committed by juveniles led many to question the efficacy of the juvenile court system and to call for a harsher response to juvenile crime. This has led to more juvenile arrests,

For juvenile offenders involved in the juvenile justice system, they experience high rates of depressive symptoms and are more likely to meet diagnostic criteria for a mood disorder than community-based youths (Domalanta, Risser, Roberts, & Risser, 2003; Hirschfield et al., 2006; Teplin, Abram, McClelland, Dulcan, & Mericle, 2002). The literature found significant factors for development of depression among juvenile offenders as follows: