Despite frequently expressed concerns regarding the involvement of persons with mental illness (PMI) in the criminal justice (CJ) system, mental health services researchers addressing this problem have not drown on the rich theoretical and methodological frameworks offered by criminology. The research proposed here will examine patterns and correlates of CJ involvement among persons with mental illness drawing on and melding the perspectives of criminology and mental health services research.
Our Specific Aims are the following: ? 1. Examine patterns of offenses for which persons with severe mental illness are arrested. ? 2. Identify individual, socio-environmental and mental health services correlates of arrest ? 3. Examine patterns and predictors of change in CJ involvement over time at the individual level. ? The final products of this research effort will include: (1) a picture of the CJ involvement of a large, statewide population of PMI served by the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health, including the number of arrests and types of charges for which PMI are arrested in a given year; a comparison of the charges of lodged against PMI in our identified cohort with those of all other arrestees in a single jurisdiction over the same time period; (2) data on the effects of risk factors for arrest identified in the criminologic literature but not previously investigated with PMI, that will aid in targeting mental health service system interventions designed to prevent both initial CJ involvement and, when necessary, re-involvement by PMI; (3) longitudinal data on patterns of criminal justice 'trajectories' of PMI and other arrestees, describing patterns of persistence and desistence in CJ involvement, which also can be used in developing, targeting and evaluating the effects of mental health services on CJ involvement among PMI. Beyond these specific products, these data will provide the basis for more intensive study of CJ involvement among PMI by providing mental health services researchers a new conceptual framework that integrates mental health services research and criminologic perspectives to understanding this problem. ? ?
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| Fisher, William H; Roy-Bujnowski, Kristen M; Grudzinskas Jr, Albert J et al. (2006) Patterns and prevalence of arrest in a statewide cohort of mental health care consumers. Psychiatr Serv 57:1623-8 |
