Half of juvenile offenders are in facilities where inhouse mental health professionals assess all youth

In 5 of 10 facilities, in-house mental health professionals evaluate all youth held

Among facilities that reported mental health evaluation information in 2002, 53% said that in-house mental health professionals evaluate all youth to determine their mental health needs. An additional 34% said in-house mental health professionals evaluate some, but not all youth. The proportion of facilities reporting that a mental health professional inside the facility evaluates all youth was somewhat higher in 2002 than in 2000. Only 13% of facilities did not have an in-house mental health professional evaluate youth.

Evaluation by in-house mental health professional	2000	2002
Total facilities	3,061	2,964
Facilities reporting mental health evaluation info	2,201	2,287
All reporting facilities	100%	100%
All youth evaluated	50	53
Some youth evaluated	36	34
No youth evaluated	14	13

Larger facilities were more likely than smaller facilities to have in-house mental health professionals evaluate all youth for mental health needs and less likely to not evaluate any youth in 2002
Evaluation by in-house mental health professional		Facility size based on resident population
	Total	1–10	11–20	21–50	51–100	101–200	200+
Total facilities	2,964	1,003	648	704	350	171	88
Facilities reporting mental health    evaluation info	2,288	629	503	592	317	160	86
All reporting facilities	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%
All youth evaluated	53	54	50	51	57	54	60
Some youth evaluated	34	25	32	39	36	44	40
No youth evaluated	13	21	18	10	7	3	0

Reception/diagnostic centers and training schools were more likely than other types of facilities to have in-house mental health professionals evaluate all youth for mental health needs in 2002
Evaluation by in-house mental health professional	Facility type
	Detention center	Shelter	Reception/ diagnostic center	Group home	Boot camp	Ranch/ wilderness camp	Training school
Total facilities	769	289	104	1,136	56	157	389
Facilities reporting mental    health evaluation info	591	179	96	825	52	130	372
All reporting facilities	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%
All youth evaluated	30	33	66	57	46	45	64
Some youth evaluated	62	46	34	22	40	35	32
No youth evaluated	8	21	0	21	13	20	4
Source: Author's analysis of Juvenile Residential Facility Census 2002 [machine-readable data file].

JRFC asks facilities about their mental health evaluation procedures Mental health professionals conduct evaluations or appraisals to diagnose or identify mental health needs. Are any young persons evaluated or appraised by a mental health professional (with at least a master’s degree in psychology or social work) at a location inside this facility? If yes . . . Are all young persons evaluated or appraised by a mental health professional inside this facility? If not all . . . Which young persons are evaluated or appraised by a mental health professional inside this facility? When are young persons evaluated or appraised by a mental health professional inside this facility?

A greater proportion of privately operated than publicly operated facilities said in 2002 that in-house mental health professionals evaluated all youth (62% vs. 41% of facilities reporting mental health evaluation information). However, compared with private facilities, public facilities reported a greater proportion of facilities that had at least some youth evaluated by an in-house mental health professional (91% vs. 84% of facilities reporting mental health evaluation information).

Evaluation by in-house mental health professional	Facility operation
	Public	Private
Total reporting facilities	950	1,332
All reporting facilities	100%	100%
All youth evaluated	41	62
Some youth evaluated	50	22
No youth evaluated	10	16

Evaluation by in-house mental health professional	Onsite mental health treatment?
	Yes	No
Total reporting facilities	1,500	787
All reporting facilities	100%	100%
All youth evaluated	64	32
Some youth evaluated	27	47
No youth evaluated	9	21

The most common approach to mental health evaluation in 2002 was to screen all youth by the end of their first week at the facility
When youth are evaluated	Number of juvenile facilities			As a percent of facilities that evaluated for mental health needs
		Evaluation by in-house mental health professional		Facilities that evaluated	Evaluation by in-house mental health professional
	All facilities	All evaluated	Some evaluated		All evaluated	Some evaluated
Total facilities	2,964	1,214	768	100%	61%	39%
By end of first day	357	298	59	18	15	3
Day two through       end of first week	795	597	198	40	30	10
After first week	375	229	145	19	12	7
Other	456	90	366	23	5	18
No youth evaluated    (or not reported)	981	–	–	–	–	–

In 2002, 17% of juvenile offenders were in facilities that had in-house mental health professionals evaluate all youth on the day they arrived at the facility
When youth are evaluated	Number of juvenile offenders			As a percent of juvenile offenders in facilities that evaluated for mental health needs
		Evaluation by in-house mental health professional		Facilities that evaluated	Evaluation by in-house mental health professional
	All facilities	All evaluated	Some evaluated		All evaluated	Some evaluated
Total juvenile offenders	102,388	50,326	37,237	100%	57%	43%
By end of first day	17,408	14,531	2,877	20	17	3
Day two through       end of first week	34,224	22,120	12,104	39	25	14
After first week	15,285	8,920	6,365	17	10	7
Other	20,646	4,755	15,891	24	5	18
No youth evaluated       (or not reported)	14,825	–	–	–	–	–
In 45% of facilities that reported information on their mental health evaluation procedures, all youth were evaluated for mental health needs by an in-house mental health professional by the end of their first week in custody. These facilities held 42% of juvenile offenders who resided in facilities that reported information on their mental health evaluation procedures.
– Not applicable Source: Author's analysis of Juvenile Residential Facility Census 2002 [machine-readable data file].

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Juvenile Residential Facility Census, 2002: Selected Findings	OJJDP National Report Series Bulletin June 2006